


How far will you go?

by westerly01



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-01-29 02:12:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 44,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12620832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westerly01/pseuds/westerly01
Summary: Kelley loves her ranch. It's her whole world. Does she have room for anything else? For anyone else?





	1. Who is to come?

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you're feeling it or not.....

“Wait Mal, come around the back. They’re starting to slow down, we need to keep them together.” Mallory dropped back, slowing her horse down and the she zipped out to the right to come behind the 3 cows slowing. “Sid, stay right up that side, you’re keeping them from breaking away, good work.” Kelley was yelling out to her friends seeing as she had the most experience. She needed to make sure that they would be getting all these cows where they needed to, in the timeframe given. Looking over the herd, she saw that it was fairly contained so she move to the front to try and move across and slow them. 

 

Within a few minutes, they had the herd under control but they didn’t want to stop them just yet as they needed to cross the creek before nightfall.

 

“So tell me why I said I would do this again Kel?” This was never Sidney’s favourite thing to do out of all things she gets to do with living on the land.

 

“Because you earn good money for 5 days work Sid. Oh and you happened to make a bet with that jerk off Justin about finishing this muster in 4 days……You’re lucky I like you…..and that I know we can do it in 4 days.” They would have to pull a few extra hours but the conditions were good so they were just starting earlier in the mornings. “I do feel for young Mal over there though. I don’t know whether she is too happy about the bet you made.”

 

“Oh please….She will be happy to get back early. She has a date.”

 

“It’s not a date!!” Mal looked over at Kelley hoping to convince her, “I don’t have a date.”

 

“You have a date!” Sidney sung out, “Just face it, that kid is crazy about you. And I don’t know if you have noticed, she couldn’t possibly wear tighter jeans around you.”

 

“Stop looking at her ass.” 

 

Sidney rolled her eyes back at Mal before looking over to Kelley again, “It’s a date.”

 

“Alright you two, lets get this show on the road. We have to cross that water before it gets any later,  then I reckon we can only push it another hour. That will leave us plenty of time to get back for your bet Sid.” Sid let out a cheer as she dug her heels into the horse to gallop ahead a little further.

 

Setting up camp doesn’t take long. It’s actually just their swags and the time it takes to build a small fire. They all love to sleep under the stars, they have all grown up this way.

 

“Is this the last muster for you Kel, before the storm season kicks in?” 

 

“Nah Sid, I have at least 2 that I know of. I think if I plan any more I might be pushing it though. As soon as Joanie broke her hip she asked to make sure I could get hers back to her property.”

 

“She is so rich, why doesn’t she just put them on a truck and bring them down?”

 

“Mal, do you think I’m honestly ever going to suggest that to her. Yes she is rich and she is prepared to pay the money for me to squeeze it in for my last muster. Also, she keeps them to far up in the hills for the trucks. Either way, I’d have to get them down…You guys want in?”

 

“Nah this is me for the season. I have to help Dom back at the ranch. We need to do some repairs on the main barn before the storms come. They think we are really going to get some rain this year.”

 

“Christ we need it. I haven’t seen any decent rain since I’ve been back from Cali.” Mal had been in California for College, but when her Dad got sick, she deferred and came back to help out.

 

“What about you Mal?”

 

“Yeah I would definitely be into Joanie’s. I love going up into the hills. Let me know when you are planning them and I will talk to dad about what he has going on at the farm.”

 

“Cool….now can either of you tell me why both of you packed baked beans? Could you not have had a pre pack discussion so we didn’t have to live on fucking beans.” Both of the girls chuckled. 

 

“Yeah sorry bout that Kel,” Mal mumbled. “Sid did actually tell me that she was bringing the beans but straight after the call I got distracted.” Kelley raised her eyebrows with a little bit of a wiggle.

 

“Oh really.. Do tell.” Mal was starting to squirm and sweat a little more, but she could have passed that off as a result of the campfire. The squirming though, that needed an explanation.

 

“Nothing to tell. I just had a visitor come by and I lost track of time…then when I woke up in the morning I just grabbed shit loads of beans.”

 

Sid couldn’t help herself, “Must have been an amazing distraction.” Mal looked off in the sky, a small smirk crossing her face.

 

“You have no idea.” She mumbled.

 

 

 

 

Two days later Kelley is walking into the vets to check on her dog. She needed to leave him there before the muster, because there was no way he could have kept up with their pace considering he had injured his leg. He was going to need some more rest but she was hoping she could take him home. It was too quiet in the house without him there to talk to.

 

The older man came out from the lab out the back when he heard the door open.

 

“Roland, how are you doing my friend?” Kelley walked over to give the man a hug. She had known him for many years now and knew his family quite well too. In fact, it was sort of the town where you knew everyone. It wasn’t that hard really, there weren’t a lot of people. Some of the ranches were quite spread out so the town never got particularly rowdy. Well..except for one night a year.

 

“Hello Kelley. How did the muster go?”

 

“Really well thanks Roland. I had Sid and Mal with me so I can always trust they know what they are doing. I missed that guy in there though. How is he doing?”

 

“The swelling has gone down a little so we were able to get him walking a bit. He hasn’t done his knee or anything so that is really good news. Obviously the way he landed on it was enough to irritate it. He should be good to join you out there again in about 2 weeks. Otherwise just keep him quiet” Kelley looked at him and laughed, “Okay, …quieter than usual at least.”

 

“I will do my best Doc…So how you going anyway? Is your back still giving you troubles?”

 

“Yeah, I just can’t seem to shake the pain. I think its really just a reminder that I’m not as young as I used to be.”

 

“So how are you going to go out in paddocks then? Is it going to make it harder for you?”

 

“Yeah about that….”

 

“What about that Rolo? What’s going on?”

 

“I’m not going to be able to do the same things any more. The People Doc actually said I need to have an operation on my back. I’m going to be out for a while.”  Roland was looking sad at the prospect of not doing what he has always loved.

 

“But you’ve always been my Doc….This Practice has always been in your family. What’s going to happen now?” Kelley looked like she was getting the worst news that she has ever been told. Roland’s family has always looked after the animals around here, even a good hundred miles out. He would make trips out in the helicopter to check up on the farmers and what they needed for their livestock.

 

“Well, as I don’t have any kids who wanted to hang around this place to be next in line, my god-daughter is going to come out and step into my shoes.”

 

“You have a god-daughter?”

 

“Yeah, 2 actually. My best friend from College named me the god father of his twins. I think it was because I knew too much about what he got up to but he swears it’s all in love.”

 

“Wow, okay, big news. When does she arrive?”

 

“In 3 weeks she will be taking over, but getting here in 2 so she can get settled in.” Kelley rubbed her hands over her face. This meant that she wouldn’t have Roland to check over the next muster.

 

“Okay, well can you let her know that I’ll need her for the next movement.”

 

“Sure I will Kelley. She will be working by the same schedule as usual until any other new booking come in. Just look over the next few weeks and work out what you have coming up and send me through a calendar invite.I will put it into my schedule.” Kelley was nodding silently. A million things running through her head. “She really is a great girl Kelley. I wouldn’t have let her come and take over the practice if I didn’t think she could handle it.”

 

“Does she really get the livestock though? Is this just a fill in for her or is this serious?”  Roland was quiet for a second.

 

“Kelley..You need to trust me.” Roland saying that made Kelley feel a bit guilty.

 

“I know Roland, and I do.”

 

 

 

 

Having Cyrus home for Kelley made a massive difference. He had always kept her company when she was feeling low. Right now, he was cuddled up to her in her big bed. It definitely wasn’t cold, but being wrapped in her feathery blanket was heaven. He had been home already a week and his limping had pretty much disappeared. 

 

“You gonna be ready to head out with me soon?” Cyrus licked Kelley’s face and snuggled in even further. Kelley’s life was all about her ranch. She felt there was something missing in her life, but she didn’t exactly live in a place that had a decent flow of available women turn up. She’d had the odd fling here and there but after awhile decided she just didn’t have time for that.  But man did she miss it.

Her phone rang to bring her out of her thoughts, which is odd, all her friends know she hates talking on the phone.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey Kel, it’s Timmy. Wait, did I wake you? It’s like 9:30.”

 

“Timmy, don’t judge me..the animals are fed. Why are you ringing me?”

 

“I was wondering if you were free tonight?” Kelley smiled and couldn’t help herself.

 

“I’ve told you before Timmy, you have no chance of getting into my pants. Like zero..absolute zero.” Timmy chuckled knowing that he had tried once or twice because what else do you do in a small town, and she’s hot.

 

“Are you coming to the Rodeo tonight?” There was a Rodeo about an hour away. They were alway a big event when they came around. Especially if it was a Rodeo that would give the local riders national credit.

 

“Mmmm, yeah I thought about it. Sid mentioned it but I’m not sure. I had set tomorrow out to look at some of my fences and we both know that wont happen if I go.” Timmy was quiet for a few seconds.

 

“What if I promise you a day of my services to help with your fences….and whatever other needs you may have?”

 

“Haha, Timbo what do you need? Apart from getting laid. Which I will not be helping with.”

 

“Well I was hoping you could help me out tonight? I’m competing and I was going to have Luke help me but he sprained his ankle last night…and no…you do not want to know how.”

 

“Well, I imagine it involves whiskey, that’s not a hard guess…but sure, what time do you need me there for?”

 

“Well it starts at 6pm but if you could meet me at 4:30 that would be great because they are going to let us do a few practice runs.”

 

“Alright Timmy, see you there.”

 

 

 

That night Kelley found herself having fun. It had been awhile since she had been to the Rodeo and this night was actually a pretty big meet. Timmy had done really well on his practice runs and he was always open to hearing Kelley give him advice. She was actually quite good at it but never took it serious as she didn’t want to risk hurting herself. Her ranch wouldn’t survive if that ever happened. 

 

The crowds were starting to fill in and the one thing Kelley did enjoy about these nights, the beautiful women came out. They looked good. They smelt good. They felt good.

 

“Hey Kel, as much as I appreciate a beautiful lady..can you help me out here?”

 

“Oh shit..sorry man.” Timmy had completely busted her checking out someone’s ass.

 

“Don’t worry Kel, there will be plenty of time for playing tonight.”

 

 

 

 

“C’mon Timmy, dig those heels in!!!” Kelley was straddling the fence near the gate yelling out to Timmy as he rode a bull called Crusher. He held on for 6 seconds before being thrown to the ground. Timmy ran over towards Kelley and she reached out to help pull him up onto the fence away from the horns of the bull. “Good ride man…way to to start the night. You need to work on that grip though. I could see you losing it early.”

 

“Yeah that ride didn’t feel quite right. But hey..I got a good time and we have a good couple of bulls ahead. I got a good draw tonight.”

 

Kelley stepped down off the fence and as she walked around the corner, she ran into 2 woman, one of them nearly losing her balance but Kelley grabbed her to hold her up steady. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean knock you over. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be there.” Kelley held onto the waist of the woman a little longer than she probably needed and felt a flush of embarrassment when she realised. 

 

“It’s okay, we were just being sneaky and cutting through here to avoid the crowd and the groping men.” Kelley smirked at the sound of her voice and locked eyes with her. Before she knew it, both of their friends were pulling them away for different reasons. Timmy needed Kelley to go through his posture with him after watching the video of the ride, and the other girls needed to find somewhere to sit. As Kelley watched the other woman get dragged away by her friend, she gave her a small wave.

 

After another 2 rides Timmy found himself in 5th position out of 24 riders. He was having a cracker of a night and Kelley found that she was really enjoying herself. She also found herself sneaking in a few glances in the direction of the beautiful woman she ran into. She sat there with her friend, laughing and drinking a beer. Every time she laughed, she would get this sparkle in her eyes and Kelley found that very attractive. Along with the perfect ass in the tight jeans…but that is another thing all together. 

 

Timmy was about to ride his 4th bull for the night, and after this he only had 2 rides left. He needed a really good time to keep him high up on the board. 

 

“Okay Timbo, remember this is a feisty one. He’s going to come hard out of the Shute and then drop his head low, you need to be ready for that change. This guy tends to buck more than spin, but be ready.” Timmy was listening intently, he had always respected Kelley for her knowledge and hard work ethic. She always put in 120% into something and she was a fiercely loyal friend. 

 

When the clock counted down, the chute opened and out charged the bull. Just like Kelley said, he charged and then dipped low. She watched Timmy’s face and she could see him looking at the bulls head. He was doing good, watching for the bulls tell. The bull then started to buck violently, Timmy was holding on well, responding to the movements. Kelley was up on the railing, watching closely, knowing that Timmy would want her feedback when they watch the video of the ride again. The bull was jerking to the left and moving over in large bounds nearing the fence. Timmy was nearing the time he needed to take maximum points and he showed no signs of falling off. As the bull got closer to the fence, Kelley jumped down from where she was and ran over closer to where the bull was bucking to. She climbed up and straddles the wall in the vicinity of where they were. This ride was literally feeling like it was taking forever, like it slowed down time itself. Suddenly there was a loud grunt and Kelley saw Timmy hit the wall with the full impact of the bucking bull. She then heard the buzzer go for maximum points reached and heard another grunt with Timmy taking another hit. Just then she saw this crazy bull move back for another charge at the fence.

 

“Timmy, let go of the rope, grab my hand.” She yelled out so he could hear her over the cheering. He could see her to the side of him slightly and as the bull lunged at the fence again, Timmy loosened his grip and reached around for Kelley’s forearm. Gripping on, he managed to leap off the bull, moving his legs as the bull attempted to crush his leg against the railing. He tucked his legs up like he was moving into the foetal position and with all her strength, Kelley pulled him higher out of the way and he was able to climb onto the fence safely.

 

There were loud cheers and whistles, Timmy looked to be in a little bit of shock but then wrapped his arms around Kelley in a tight hug. “Thanks Ken, once again you saved my life.”

 

“Oh it wasn’t that dire Tim, your leg maybe but not your life.”

 

“But this is my life Kelley, all of this. If I can’t use my legs, I can’t ride..Thank you.” Tim pulled back and put his arms in the air triumphantly.  With that ride and the points he gathered on the last 2, Timmy took out the win. This was such an important event for him as it helped him move towards national competition qualification. That’s where the sponsors would start to kick in. 

 

Kelley looked around to where the beautiful woman was hoping to be able to find the opportunity to go and talk to her now that her obligations were over, but unfortunately, she was gone. Neither of those women were in sight. Kelley felt her chest deflate. Kelley kept looking around hoping to catch those sparkling eyes….but no luck. 

 

“Hey Kel, are you going to come for a few beers? My shout. We did great tonight. I need you at all my rides.” Timmy was looking like he was sitting in his throne on cloud nine, and god damn did he earn it. He was sure going to feel that wall charge tomorrow once the adrenalin wore off.

 

“Not tonight bud, I’m going to head home. I’ve got a few repairs to get done and do an oil change on my truck….but don’t worry, those fence repairs I will leave for you.”

 

“Absolutely…Thank you so much for tonight Kelley.”

 

 

 

On the way home Kelly started to think, will she ever find someone, is there anyone to find?  Does deserve it?

 


	2. Chuck em

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a little different peeps but I just wanted to try a story I hadn't seen around before. I like challenges..hopefully so do you.

Kelley threw herself into another week of work around the ranch. Cyrus was able to walk a lot better so towards the end of the week she let him start to follow her out on her jobs. If she could take the ATV to where she needed to go, then he would be on the back. 

 

Timmy did in fact come over for a full day to help with fences. He even came over the next day to help with more. He was still riding on a high from his win, he even somehow managed to get Kelley to agree to go out with him Friday night to the bar. He would buy her dinner and as many drinks as she wanted. He actually knew this wouldn’t be too many, much cheaper than if he shouted one of his other buddies.

 

She walked into the bar at 6pm to meet Timmy. She was starving and wanted the biggest steak on the menu. Well, maybe the second biggest. She had tried to eat the biggest before and just like many others before her, she couldn’t finish it. Kelley wore her tight blue jeans, she knew they made her ass look amazing. She had on a crisp black long sleeve button up shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to show her muscular forearms. All the work on the farm kept her body in fantastic shape. Her black cowgirl boots finished off the outfit. She actually didn’t wear her hat tonight, choosing instead to leave her long brown hair flow over her shoulders. Every now and then, it felt nice to clean up and smell good.

 

3 beers and 2 whiskeys in, Timmy is realising that Kelley is in for a good night. It doesn’t hurt that a couple of woman walked in together and after a drink, happily came over to continue drinking with them. Both of them gorgeous and both of them happily taking an interest in Tim and Kelley. Kelley was talking to a blonde, she had narrowed her name down to being either Sally-ann or Anne-Marie. She knew there was an Ann, but frankly she really had no intention to know her past tonight. She wasn’t that interesting, and her laugh was starting to irritate her. 

 

‘Ann’ was sitting beside Kelley and was definitely making her intentions known. Her hand was starting to gently stroke Kelley’s thigh and it was moving higher and higher each time. After another 2 whiskey shots for everyone, Ann was very close to Kelley’s side and Kelley had her arm around her waist holding her in close. Tim was definitely getting distracted by the woman practically sitting on his lap. Ann lent over to whisper in Kelley’s ear, instead moving to her neck and kissing her below her ear, but Kelley did hear when she spoke. “So Kelley, are you going to take me somewhere and fuck me?” Kelley’s eyebrows instantly shot up at the question. Ann straightened up and looked Kelley in the eyes. There was no way Kelley was going to say no this this, but where in the hell was she going to do that. Home was too far away. Then she had an idea.

 

“Yes I am”

 

Kelley moved Ann out of the booth and started leading her towards the back of the bar. Obviously she knew the owners pretty well, she would have to make this up to Heather and Dave later, but right now she didn’t care. She led Ann into the office that was hidden in the back of the bar. It wasn’t very big, but she didn’t need a lot of room. 

 

As soon as they were in the door, she shut it and even locked it before backing Ann up to the door and kissing her. It didn’t take long for Kelley’s tongue to be dominantly invading Ann’s mouth. Nothing about this was slow. They were in this room for one reason and by god, Kelley was there all the way. Ann was letting Kelley dictate everything about this and she was really there just to get fucked so Kelley was going to do just that. Ann was in a dress that came to her thighs and Kelley started sliding it up as she ran her hand up her thighs. Her other hand had found breasts hidden slightly under the dress. Continuing her hand up Ann’s thigh, she found her way to Ann’s extremely tight ass. she grabbed it tight and pulled Ann in closer to her body. Ann was wearing a thong so she didn’t have to fight for skin. Kelley then started moving her hand around to her front, her short nails digging in along the way. She didn’t waste anytime once she was there to feel how wet Ann was. Ann moaned as Kelley continued rubbing her. Ann whined in annoyance when she let Kelley move her hand away but then Kelley grabbed her waist and spun her around so her cheek was up against the door. Kelley didn’t waste anymore time, nudged her foot over a little further and plunged in 2 fingers. This caused Ann to scream out in pleasure and she continued to moan at each thrust. Kelley rested her lips on the side of Ann’s neck, sucking in different spots all the way up to her earlobe. Kelley’s other hand was on the front of Ann, still grabbing at her breast. None of this was slow and sensual, this was drunk sex, getting out some frustration. Feeling a little dizzy from the blood rushing around her head and the alcohol, Kelley shook her head and went back to the task at hand….literally. She rested her teeth on Ann’s shoulder and started to bite gently, focusing on her pace. Ann was so wet around her fingers and she could tell that she was close so Kelley moved her free hand down and started rubbing her clit. That didn’t take long for Ann to start screaming loudly as her legs began to shake. Kelley slowed her movements down letting Ann ride out her orgasm. Slowly Kelley moved her fingers and wiped them on the towel hanging by the door. She told herself to remember to wash that towel…or maybe just throw it out. It would be hard to sneak out with a towel from a bar. 

 

When Ann’s breathing slowed back down she turned around slowly looking at Kelley. Kelley just stood there with a smirk on her face, moving to pull Ann’s dress back down. Ann helped straighten her dress, leaned forward a gave Kelley a quick peck on the lips and then reached for the door knob. Kelley let Ann slip out the door and just stood there with her hands on her hips. She just fucked someone in her friends office and thank god she wouldn’t see these women again. They were just passing through. Deciding it was definitely time to leave for the night, Kelley straightened her shirt, tidied her hair and walked out with her head held high. When she got to the booth, no one was there anymore, which meant Tim had left with the other girl.  

 

Realising she couldn’t drive in the state she was in instantly thwarted her plans of going home and snuggling up to Cyrus. Instead she walked over to her truck which was at the back of the lot away from the bar, pulled the spare sleeping bag out from inside the cabin and climbed in the back. All she needed was a few hours and then she would be able to head home. As she laid there thinking about her night, she couldn’t help but mentally kick herself. She didn’t want to be that person, she didn't want the one night stands. She didn’t want to be that fuck em and chuck em person. The only reason she felt semi okay about what just happened is because that was exactly what Ann wanted and now she wouldn’t have to worry about seeing her ever again. Putting her head on  a rolled up jumper, she clenched her eyes shut, willing sleep to come over her and stop her thoughts from annoying her.

 

 

A week later, Kelley found herself standing on top of Joanie’s barn, fixing some sheeting that was coming loose.  After Joanie broke her hip she needed to get extra help around the farm. Certain things she could get anyone for, but there were just some things that Joanie wouldn’t trust just anyone with. The fact that her barn needed repairs meant she needed quality work done because a big storm could cause too much damage to her stored hay and feed. She would prefer to pay Kelley to fix it and Kelley would prefer her to be the person to fix it. Joanie never shied away from paying for Kelleys’ time. She knew she was in demand around town and also knew that Kelley would actually do the work properly. So Kelley found herself nailing down the sheeting, wearing only her boots, jeans and sports bra. Unfortunately her shirt caught on some iron, ripping it right down the front so she figured there wasn’t much point in leaving it on. 

 

Roland’s truck came into view driving from the front gate, Kelley knew it was coming up to his last days so she was glad he was still able to make it out to some properties despite his discomfort. She was on the last 3 sheets of iron and she couldn’t be more thankful. Today was just a struggle. Sitting down on the roof, she took a moment for herself to drink some water. The voice she heard wasn’t anything like what she was expecting. That definitely wasn’t Roland, she couldn’t hear them properly, but that sure was a woman's voice. It must mean that his God daughter is already in town and at work. By the time Kelley got to a place where she could see the truck, no one was standing there. Kelley decided to quickly finish off the last 3 sheets and then go and see the newbie. Just as she finished with the last nail she heard Roland’s truck start up and move away towards the paddocks behind the house. Kelley stood there and watched the truck leave, knowing there would always be other opportunities to meet the town newbie. At least she was done for the day and could head home. 

 

 

As the new vet in town drove away, she looked in her rear view mirror as a figure came into view. Instantly she wanted to stop and go and talk to this person but she thought that might appear a bit creepy. She recognised her immediately, although this time she was looking a little different. Standing there in jeans and just a sports bra was the woman she ran into at the rodeo. She honestly thought she would never see that woman again and felt a little bummed about it. When that woman grabbed her waist, she had felt an electrical surge run through her body. She’d never felt anything like that before from another persons touch. Typically, Lindsey had no idea what was happening and dragged her away.  Luckily Lindsey also didn’t see her watching the woman straddling the fence….. or standing there talking after she saved her friend from the bull. It looked like she could read situations well, she read animals well.

 

But now, there was this woman standing on top of a barn with a hammer in hand and abs on show to the world. She had no idea what this woman did, but those abs were on point. She had looked strong that night she had first seen her but this was a whole other story. 

 

Emily had been a little unsure about taking on this role. She had always loved working with animals and had always dreamed of having her own Practice. But coming into town with a very established history, she was concerned that the locals wouldn’t take to her. Her Godfather, or Uncle Rolo as she prefers to call him, had given her a small run town of some of the key town people. There were a few that may be a tough crowd for her but she was committed to staying, because this was what she wanted. She loved horses and rode well. The one thing Emily would have to get used to was the helicopter. Uncle Rolo explained to her some of his extra jobs he did and she loved every single one of them…well apart from the helicopter bit. That would be something she would have to work on…and she would. She wanted this to work..she needed it to.

 


	3. Daffodils

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely not happy with this chapter but needed a filler there somewhere. Thanks for the Kudos everyone.

“I don’t understand what the big deal is Mal? Why do you need my place?”

 

“Because her parents don’t know yet and I don’t want to be doing anything in my parelnts house right now.”

 

“Well I don’t really want you doing anything in my house either.” Mal put her head on her hands in frustration.  “But of course you can have my house for the night…just not my bed.” Mal jumped up and down like an excited child. “When exactly are you hoping to have this night with your girlfriend/not girlfriend? Wait are you two dating yet?” Mal looked up at Kelley with happy eyes nodding.

 

“Yeah we are….We’re just keeping it quiet while she works things out with her parents. I don’t want to pressure her so we will just be what we can for the moment.”

 

“Oh that is so….sickly sweet.” Kelley pretended to gag.

 

“Oh you’re just jealous Kel.” Kelley rolled her eyes.

 

“Unlikely..I don’t have time for any of that.”

 

“Well you need to make time Kelley. You can’t just keep killing yourself working, otherwise you’re going to die and all you will have is cows.”

 

“I have Cyrus.”

 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” 

 

“Anyway, what night am I in my swag?”

 

“Is this Friday ok?” Kelley started nodding but then had a better idea.

 

“Tell you what Mallory, I’m out moving Jeffery’s cattle next week. The place is yours. But like I said..not my bed…and no sex on the couch.” Mallory jumped on Kelley’s back in excitement. 

 

“Oh my god Kelley, you are amazing. Thank you so much. I’m gonna go call Jessie.”

 

 

 

Kelley was finishing strapping her swag to the side of her horse Diego. He was a solid black horse and she trusted him in some of the toughest spots out there. She would be going out by herself because she was just moving the cattle from one property to the next but the fence lines were far apart and she needed to move them to a specific area that would be higher out of the flash flooding area. 

Kelley hadn’t run into the new vet yet but she was about to meet her right now. Kelley needed one of her horses checked over before she left. She was pregnant and hadn’t been eating properly in the last week so Kelley needed to make sure she would be ok. This was the only time the vet had free this morning so Kelley pushed back her departure time by an hour. Kelley had to admit, she was very curious about this new vet.

 

Rolo’s truck pulled up quietly at the side of the house and Kelley could’t quite make out the silhouette of the person driving, but she stood there waiting for the person to get out, just patting Diego’s nose.

 

The light coloured hair came into view, and then so did the rest of the woman. Kelley felt her head cock to the side automatically. She recognised the beautiful woman and she couldn’t believe her luck. Emily walked over towards her extending out her hand. “Hello, I’m Emily Sonnett, you must be Kelley?”

 

“Yeah that’s me. Nice to finally meet you….and actually get to talk to you this time.” That bought a little smile to Emily’s eye’s and took away some of the nerves.

 

“You remember me?”

 

“Of course I do. You just disappeared that night before I had the chance to come and talk to you.”

 

“Yeah my friend was pretty keen to get home. She’s not a small town kind of girl. I think she was overwhelmed by all the cowboys.” 

 

“Oh is that right. I take it she isn’t from around here then?”

 

“No, she drove down with me from Virginia so I wouldn’t have to make the trip by myself.”

 

“Wow, long drive.”

 

“Yeah, but I had so much stuff to bring with me it made sense to do it now. I’m not really going to have time to head back and grab anything for awhile.”

 

“So you plan on hanging around for awhile then?” Kelley was hoping that she was really looking at staying here, it would also mean she would take her job seriously.

 

“That’s definitely the plan.” Emily realised they probably needed to get to business because Kelley was on her way out. “You’re heading out for a while?” She pointed to Kelley’s swag on the side of the horse.

 

“Yeah Diego and I are moving some cattle to higher ground and checking on some fencing while we are out there.”

 

“Diego?”

 

“Yeah my gorgeous man here is Diego. He is quite the catch.”

 

“I’m sure he is. He is absolutely magnificent.” Emily stepped forward to pat his shoulders. “So tell me what’s going on with your horse you rang about.” Kelley suddenly remembered she had called Emily out here for a reason.

 

“One of my other horses is pregnant but she hasn’t been eating lately which is concerning. I was hoping you could check her out for me?”

 

“Of course. How about I come back out with the trailer and take her into my stables until you come back? That way you know she is going to be watched over.”

 

“You’d do that? That would be amazing.” 

 

“It’s no worries. I will come back out this afternoon after my day and load her up.” Kelley thought for a second, smirking.

 

“Just don’t go anywhere near a window.” Emily looked at her with concern and confusion. “I have a friend staying until I get back. I am very aware of what she will be doing in that house..most likely in many different places as much as it disturbs me. I just don’t want you to be subjected to…..whatever she will be doing.” Emily blushed a little.

 

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be anything I didn’t see in college.” Kelley’s eyebrows shot up at the thought.

 

“huh, College, the place of unplanned pregnancies. Well, if you so choose to, knock at your own risk. I’m fairly sure that as soon as they step inside that front door, they will be like horny teenage girls. Except they aren’t teenagers anymore.”  Emily blushed again when she realised what Kelley was implying.  At least Emily knew she was the only one around town now.  

 

 

Kelley was riding out on Diego. She left Cyrus with Mal for the week. She knew she would make better time if she could gallop with Diego in the clearings until they got to the cattle. Diego was a horse that loved to run and she never felt scared on him. He could handle the really tricky ground and had a lot of strength. Moving through the trees, she couldn’t help but think of Emily. The beautiful woman who stood before her today was the same woman she literally ran into the other week at the rodeo. Apart from picking up her other horse when she got back, she knew she would need to make an excuse to see her again.

 

Emily was patting Kelley’s horse. She was learning very quickly that Kelley liked unique names for her pets. Daffodil (daffy) was a pretty brown Mare with white spots. She was only in her second trimester and should be a lot more active than she was and certainly be eating more than she is. Emily was about to try and move her into the trailer when she heard a voice come from around the truck.

“I’m assuming this is a planned moved and not a robbery??” Mallory walked up eyeing off the vet but had a smirk on her face.

 

“Arh…yeah, I’m Emily, the new town Vet. I dropped by and saw Kelley before she left this morning and I told her I would take daffodil in to my stables and watch her while she was gone.”

 

“Oh, cool, okay. Do you need some help?”

 

“She doesn’t seem really keen to move. Do you know what paddock she is normally in?” 

 

Mallory pointed to the paddock directly in front. “Yeah Kel normally has her right in this paddock, she hasn’t let her roam for months now.” Emily looked over and started walking to the fence line.

 

“Do you mind if I walk through and have a look?”

 

“Take your time. Need me to show you anything in particular?”

 

“No its ok..I know you’re busy.” Both of the women just stopped…looking at each other, Mallory starting to blush, Emily looking like she is busted telling a secret. Mallory recovered and narrowed her eyes and thinned her lips.

 

“Kelley..” she huffed, “What did she tell you exactly?” Emily laughed but knew exactly what she wanted to say.

 

“Don’t look in the windows and if I’m invited in….don’t sit on the couch.” Mal basically choked on her own air.

 

“God damn it Kelley. I’m not that bad.” Mal stopped herself and her eyes glanced off to the side slightly moving her head like she was actually considering how bad she actually was, causing Emily to laugh back at her.

 

“Hey…no judgement here. I always liked the challenge, especially in hotels rooms. How many surfaces can you actually have sex on.”

 

This caused Mallory to relax and laugh, “I will keep that in mind for when I see you next time.” They strolled into the paddock and walked around for a little. It didn’t take long for Emily to find what she was after.

 

“See this area here, it has grass that is different to the rest of the paddock for some reason. Just a very small patch, like it was seeded here. This particular grass can be toxic for pregnant horses. It has a particular fungus that grows on the blades of the grass. I suggest not putting her back in here until it is treated. The other paddocks she moves around in will need to be checked. Otherwise I say, treat only this one and only keep her here.”

 

“Wow, yeah okay, that’s a good idea. Seems easier to just keep her here than try and check everywhere.” They headed back towards the stables to load Daffy into the trailer.  After she was all loaded in, Emily heard the screen door of the house creak open. When she looked up, she saw a young brunette standing there with a shy smile.

 

“I think someone is looking for you.” Emily nodded her head in the direction of the house. Mal smirked when she saw the young woman leaning against the door.  “I guess you should be going. Thanks for your help Mal. Is it likely you will hear from Kelley while she is out?”

 

“Yeah she does normally check in just so we know she is ok. She should be back on Thursday afternoon I think. She will definitely text me the morning of anyway.”

 

“Okay, I might text her while she is out there just to let her know things are ok. Enjoy your week.” Emily couldn’t help but give Mallory a sly grin. Mallory backed away wearing an equally cheeky smirk.

 

 

Once Emily had Daffy comfortable in her stables, she decided to send Kelley a quick message. It was coming on dark so she figured Kelley would see her message soon enough.

 

**“Hi Kelley, It’s your friendly vet. Just wanted to let you know that Daffy has most likely ingested some toxic grass. Mal and I found it in her paddock. She’ll be fine in a few days and eating pretty soon once the drugs kick in.”** Emily smiled nervously, she didn’t know why she was hovering her finger over the send button, but she was. Biting the bullet, she hit send, shoved the phone in her back pocket and went to finish her rounds on the other animals she was caring for. 

 

 

Kelley had just finished setting up camp for the night, her swag on the ground, Diego close by. There was a small campfire lighting up the area as the sun finally slipped behind the mountains. She was sorting through her dinner options, beans, soup or stew. Closing her eyes and grabbing one, she heard her phone go off from beneath her jumper. She kept her phone on her at all times in case of emergencies and kept the spare battery pack tucked safely away in a plastic sealed bag . It’s not often that she would get a message while she’s out on a muster. When people knew she was out of town, they didn't bother her too much. She knew Mal wouldn’t be messaging her, way to busy for conversation with Kelley.

 

Reading the message on the screen, she couldn’t help but smile a little. Although it was a very basic and specific text, she felt a little happy knowing that her number was easily found in Emily’s phone.  While her food was heating in the pot she decided to text back.

 

**“Well, Hi there friendly vet. Thank you so much for helping Daffy out before things got too bad. I really appreciate you taking her this week.”** Kelley’s food quickly began to bubble so she took it away from the fire and went and relaxed beside her saddle, which propped her up while she ate.

 

Emily had just sat down in her lazy boy as her phone buzzed. She had only bothered grabbing a beer before sitting down. Dinner could wait. She lived by herself, so she kicked off her boots and got comfortable.

 

**“I’m glad we got to her when we did. Thank you for calling me before you left.”** She took a swig of her beer.

 

**“If I knew it was you..i would have done it sooner.”** What did Kelley have to lose.

 

**“Oh…is that right??”** What did Emily have to lose. There was something about Kelley that drew her in.

 

**“Mmm, Rolo didn’t tell me anything about you. If I’d known you were driving around town, I might have needed a house call sooner.”**

 

**“I saw you a few weeks ago… but didn’t think you would remember me.”**  

 

‘No way’, Kelley yelled out to the sky “What the hell??” Diego looked at her like she was actually disturbing his peace. Kelley was racking her brain trying to think when they could have potentially crossed paths.

 

Emily was concerned by the delay in response, she didn’t want to seem like a stalker.

**“You were on a roof and pretty distracted anyway, I didn’t want to bother you.”**

 

That was who was in Rolo’s truck, of course.She then realised something else. “ **Was that the real reason?”**

 

Emily thought for a few seconds on what she wanted to say, she knew it could come across a few different ways..She grinned as she remembered Kelley on the roof.

 

**“Yeah…you were a little sweaty.”**

 

Oh this is good, Kelley thought. She was indeed very sweaty that day, but she was also without a shirt.

 

**“Did you like what you saw?”** Kelley knew she was pushing it, but what the hell.

 

**“I nearly put the truck in reverse.”** Emily could’t believe she was being so forward, texting and not being face to face was probably key. She has also skulled her beer.

 

**“Emily…..I’m having a bonfire Saturday night….Would you like to come?”**

 

Emily’s eyebrows shot up, there was no way that she would miss the opportunity to see Kelley again. 

**“I think I have time to drop over for a few hours.”**

 

Instantly Kelley rang Mal. Kelley never rang Mal when she was out on a muster…unless something was wrong. Mal had her ring tone set up so she would know it was Kelley calling. David Guetta’s ‘Sexy Bitch’ was blasting from the coffee table beside Mal. Mallory was currently amid an extremely intense session with Jessie. At the sound of the phone her eyes shot open and she automatically jumped, causing her to fall off Jessie onto the ground with a thud. She fumbled for the phone, reaching it just before it went to message bank. “Shit Kelley, are you okay?”

 

“That depends….are you wearing pants?” Kelley did her best to keep the laughter from sinking into her voice.

 

“Wh..What?” 

 

“You’re on my couch aren’t you?? Are you wearing pants?” Jessie could hear the voice coming out of the phone, she couldn't help but giggle a little. Looking down at her legs, Mal was in fact not wearing pants.

 

“Yes.” Mal kept her voice as straight as she could.

 

“I call BS on that.” 

 

“Kelley…what the fuck? Are you seriously calling me just to give me shit?”

 

“Of course not, it’s just a great benefit of this conversation.”

 

“Please tell me why we are having this conversation?”

 

“Oh yeah..I need you to pass the word around that I’m having a cookout and bonfire on Saturday night.”

 

“You’re what?”

 

“Bonfire..you know..crackle crackle. Hot marshmallows.” Mallory rubbed her hand over her face.

 

“Kelley..do you know where my hand was about to go? What you interrupted?”

 

“Not on my couch it’s not.” 

 

“Arrrrr…” Mal was doing her best to contain her sexually frustrated self, Jessie holding her hand over her own mouth trying to hold in the laughter. “Ahh, fine…a bonfire..Saturday night. Why didn’t you just send out a group text?”

 

Kelley actually hadn’t thought of that, she was just too excited. But now, she thought that was a fantastic idea. “Oh yeah, ok..have a good night…behave…use protection…” She hung up.  Mal just sat there in complete shock, slowly turning her head towards Jessie.

 

“What just happened?” Jessie stood out and reached for Mallory to take her hand.

 

“C’mon baby, how about you take me to bed and show me where those hands were going?”

 

“Yes Ma’am.”

 

 

 

Kelley quickly sent out a group text to people. Leaving Emily off the string of texts, hers was a private invite. Going back to her conversation with Emily, she got comfortable in her swag, ready to fall asleep for the night.

 

**“Sorry about that, I just had to call Mallory real quick to frustrate her.”**

 

Emily couldn’t contain her laughter. “ **Oh you didn’t?”**

 

**“Damn right I did. I have given her my house for the week to have endless sex with her girlfriend. I am an amazingly nice person.”** Kelley felt so comfortable sitting there texting Emily. She knew she needed to get to sleep soon. She had to be up very early to get to the cattle and move them over to the next property.  

 

**“So…7:30 Saturday night, cookout and bonfire, on the creek bed behind my property. Will you still come?”** Emily was smiling at the phone, nodding her head.

 

**“Yes.”**

 

**“Excellent..I look forward to seeing you again. Now I have to go to sleep. Sweet dreams Emily.”**

 

**“Good night Kelley..Stay safe.”**

 

Emily looked at the time. It had just turned 8pm. Kelley was going to sleep very early, but that’s what you do when you’re up that early and riding all day.

 

It didn’t take Kelley long to drift off to sleep. She was looking at the stars and thinking about the beautiful woman she had been texting. The stars were shining so brightly without having anything else to compete with. Kelley knew this is where she belonged. It was so nice to feel complete. Well, mostly….

 

She would one day.. She knew she could love someone endlessly. She just didn’t realise how close she was to that person.


	4. What's going on here?

It was Saturday morning and Kelley had just finished doing her rounds feeding the horses. She’d gotten home from moving the cattle Thursday afternoon as expected. It was only 7am and Kelley needed her coffee. One thing that she always ensured she had at home was a functioning coffee machine. She was expecting Emily around 8am to drop Daffy off. Leaning against the counter, she was waiting for the beans to grind and for her coffee to brew.

 

There was soft mulling coming from down the hallway. Kelley had offered for Mal and Jessie to stay for the remainder of the week, until after the bonfire at least. Kelley was enjoying having the company actually. Mal would still go to help her parents with he chores through the day, but would come home and spend time with Jessie at night. They made a cute couple, Jessie was quiet and kept Mal grounded, while Mal bought out the cheeky side to Jessie. Kelley had spent too long living by herself. She loved her house, but this time with other people actually made her crave other peoples company.

 

A light squeal came from the room down the hallway. Kelley just rolled her eyes, hoping to who ever would listen that she wouldn’t be able to hear any other noises soon. To save herself, she grabbed her super sized coffee mug and walked out to her patio. She had a super comfortable patio swing that she could sit in and drift away. It would be far enough away from Mal’s room that she wouldn’t be able to hear anything. She doesn’t blame them really…young and in love. Who wouldn’t want that?

 

20 minutes later Kelley watched Emily’s truck pulling Daffy in her trailer down the driveway. Kelley had made sure she double checked the paddock with Mal, making sure there would be no more toxic weeds sprouting up. Kelley stood as Emily hopped out of the truck. She realised when Emily stood there with one eyebrow up and a smirk on her face that she had left her shirt unbuttoned. It wasn’t intentional, she was just relaxing at home.

 

“Oops, sorry.” Kelley slowly started to button up her shirt.

 

“Oh don’t button up on my part.” Kelley smirked back knowing that Emily was actually just checking out her abs.  “Daffy is doing much better, do you want her down at the front paddock?”

 

Kelley nodded knowing what the plan was. “Yeah I went for a walk through with Mal, we made sure there was no more of the weed there. I will keep her in there until she finishes nursing her foal.”

 

Emily unbolted the back gate of the trailer and started leading Daffy out. “Do you have time for a coffee?”

 

“You know, I would love to but someone is having a big bonfire tonight and I want to make sure I get all my stops done and my night rounds at home before hand.” Emily glanced back to make sure Kelley was still walking with her.

 

“Oh yeah, I hear those bonfires are the best. Always a fun time.”

 

“Well I hope so, it’s my first time.” Emily locked her eyes with Kelley.

 

“Don’t worry, I will be gentle.” Kelley lifted her eyebrow, she wasn’t expecting a response from Emily.

 

“Hopefully not too gentle.” Kelley stood there with her jaw hanging down. Emily just walked away like she didn’t say anything in particular. When Kelley gathered herself, she caught back up with Emily and opened the gate ahead for her.

 

“Thanks for texting me the other night. It was really nice to break up the quiet out there.” Emily looked over at Kelley, squinting a little bit with the sun in her eyes.

 

“It’s ok, I was worried i’d be interrupting your quiet time.”

 

“Don’t you see where I live, I get enough quiet time every day.”  Right at that second, Mallory came roaring out the door running away from Jessie. Kelley just shook her head while she watched them try and throw water on each other. “Oh the kids are up..Goodie.” Kelley and Emily walked back over towards the 2 girls. “How did you get to throwing buckets of water at each other? You were literally just having sex.”

 

Jessie stopped, her face going bright red.

 

“Jessie, you need to realise that if you are staying here when I’m here, I’m going to pay out on you every chance I get.”

 

“I can’t lie to you Babe..it’s true.” Mal shrugged her shoulders, with only the slightest look of sorry on her face. Without hesitation, Jessie threw the remaining bucket of water at Kelley’s face. She sprinted away before Kelley even had time to register what happened. “Oh shit…I can’t believe she did that to you.” Mallory pointed to Kelley, doubling over in laughter. When Kelley moved forward, Mal ran away too without even taking a look to see what Kelley was going to do.

 

“I can not believe she did that.” Kelley was pulling her shirt of her stomach, realising just how wet she was.

 

“Wow, the Girl has bigger balls than I thought.” Emily was also surprised by the actions of the extremely quiet girl. Kelley started to unbutton her shirt after just buttoning it up.

 

“I’m sorry to be doing this but..this shirt is really uncomfortable when it’s wet.” She started peeling it off slowly, she wasn’t trying to be seductive but it was still making Emily not be able to look away. When Kelley realised Emily was looking again, she stopped. “Ahem……” Emily started stuttering.

 

“U..umm, i’mma, I’m gonna go. I want to finish up as early as I can..” Emily turned around and headed over to her truck.

 

“Okay Emily, I look forward to seeing you tonight.” Emily stopped by her door and just smiled, gave small wave and hopped int he truck, slowly driving away, trying to hide the grin on her face.

 

Once the truck drove out of view, Kelley’s head snapped around to look at the door. One eyebrow raised, mind working overtime, thinking how she could get back at the 2 girls inside, particularly Jessie. She figured there was no need to rush, it would cause Jessie to get even more paranoid.  Slowing making her way into the house, she saw Jessie poking her head out of the bedroom door before shutting it quickly. Mal walked out of the kitchen, stopping and looking at Kelley.

 

“You’re going to torture her, aren’t you?”

 

“What makes you think that?”

 

“I know you too well Kelley…and…..that’s what I would do…..” Mal fist bumped Kelley and walked towards the room again, sliding behind the door that only opens a crack.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It got to 8:30pm and Emily still hadn’t showed up at Kelley’s. This was starting to concern her. Obviously its not that late, but she thought Emily would have turned up a little earlier. Mal had been watching Kelley through the evening and saw that Kelley was a little fidgety. As usual she was the social butterfly getting around to talk to everyone, but she just looked a bit more agitated than usual. She looked at her phone every now and then and she would often take a deep breath and look up at the stars. Then Mal noticed a big grin come over her face. Kelley had just taken a sip of her beer but she definitely saw something that changed her demeanour. Mal followed her line of sight..She then realised what was happening. “Oh this is gooooood.”

 

 

Emily walked towards the bonfire where a lot of people were gathered around. People were laughing and dancing, the country music changing to some Ed Sheeran. Emily could see Kelley standing there talking to some people, sipping on a beer. She looked completely different to the other times Emily had seen her. Instead of looking all country, she had on blue jeans with rips in the front, a grey t-shirt with a black leather looking jacket with a hood, the sleeves pushed a little up on the forearms. She had on white converse high tops and her straight hair was flowing from beneath a beanie. This wasn’t a look that Emily was expecting, but boy was she enjoying it. Kelley broke out into a smile which was just for Emily when she saw her out of the corner of her eyes.

 

 

Kelley watched Emily approach the bonfire. She stepped out of the shadows and she looked a bit nervous. That would probably explain why she had come much later in the night. Emily was wearing a white dress that hung loose off her body. She had a light blue denim jacket on over it. The dress only came just past the middle of her thighs so it gave Kelley ample opportunity to look at the very toned legs that just kept going. Her hair was straightened and glistening in the light. Kelley excused herself from the conversation with her friends and started taking slow steps towards Emily.

 

Mallory continued to watch what was unfolding in front of her. It had been a very long time since she had seen her friend smile like that at a woman. Kelley never found it hard to have women interested in her, but gaining Kelley’s attention was a little harder. “Mal….Mallory??” Sidney nudged Mal causing her to stumble a bit breaking her line of sight. “What are you staring at?”

Mal looked back in the direction of her best friend a took a deep breath. She nodded her head in the direction of Kelley for Sidney to follow. Sidney’s eyes bulged at the sight. 

“Oh look at the hot new vet.”

 

“Sid, you’re not seeing what’s really going on. Look at Kelley’s smile. I haven’t seen her smile like that for…for too long.”

 

“Yeah..you’re right. When did this happen?” Sidney waved her hands in the air in the direction of Kelley and Emily.

 

Mallory shrugged back at Sidney. Now she realised why Kelley was so eager to organise a bonfire. Clearly the text about Daffy from Emily digressed completely. “C’mon, I need another beer. And where is my girlfriend?” Mal glanced around, her eyes landing on Jessie who seemed to be in very intense conversation with one of her friends.

 

Kelley stopped in front of Emily, the smile on her face not leaving for a moment.

 

“Well hi friendly Vet. I was worried you weren’t going to make it tonight.” Emily nibbled on her bottom lip.

 

“Yeah, sorry I’m late. I..” Emily scanned round the creek bed looking at the groups spread out. She thought against giving an excuse or telling the truth. “So this is where all the young people are? I didn’t realise that there were so many people in this town under 50.” This caused Kelley to laugh, knowing that sometimes it took forever to actually meet everyone from this shire.

 

“Well actually, some of these guys come over from the town over. They know where the parties at.” Emily rolled her eyes at the cockiness. ”Just kidding….C’mon, let me get you a drink and introduce you to some people.” Without thinking, Kelley grabbed the edge of Emily’s fingers and led her over to where a large cooler was sitting. They had to squeeze through a few groups of people, Emily trying not to get to lost in the feeling of Kelley holding her fingers and keeping her close as they made it through the young crowd. “What would you like to drink? A beer or a wine?” Emily seemed surprised by the option of wine causing Kelley to defend them in jest. “Hey just because we are country bumpkins doesn’t mean we live on Whiskey and beer.” Emily threw her hands up in defence. She started giggling though at the next person to speak.

 

“Hey Kelley, where did you put that bottle of Whiskey? I’m sort of over beer tonight.” A sandy haired man spoke loudly as he walked towards them. Kelley looked at Emily knowing she just lost her argument before they even really began.

 

“I’ll have a beer please. Whiskey another time maybe.” Emily smirked at Kelley with a cheeky peace offering.

 

Kelley opened the beer for Emily and handed it to her, their hands brushing as Emily took the bottle. Kelley felt the electricity pass between them and she was fairly certain Emily felt it too. It caused Kelley to stutter a little bit with nerves. She cleared her throat and tried to get her words out. “Umm, are…are you ready to meet some people?” Emily looked at Kelley, keeping brief eye contact.

 

“Yeah, sure, lead the way. I only know a few faces.” Kelley walked over to a group of women standing down by the creek edge.This time she didn’t grab Emily’s hand, just leading her down, letting her follow in her own time. Kelley introduced her not only as the town Vet, but her friend. This made Emily relax a little bit and made it easier to talk to Kelley’s friends. 

 

After about 5 minutes laughing with that group, Kelley heard some commotion from a little further down the creek bed. She glanced around the bodies and saw 3 figures talking animatedly in the shadows by the water. Kelley glanced over to Emily and then excused herself quickly from the group. Kelley double timed it over to the 3 people arguing, Emily moved over to be standing quietly in the dark, not intruding on the group but being able to watch without seeming like a creep. She watched as Kelley stood there, hands up like she was just trying to calm everyone down. The girl who was standing there talking to Jessie and Mal then said something causing Kelley to lower her arms and take a step forward. She stood in front of the other 2, while they stood behind her, Mal wrapping her arms around Jessie, comforting her while she cried quietly. Kelley took another few steps forward, causing the other girl to step back to create some distance between her and Kelley, but then stopped like she was then defending her self and standing tall. Kelley listened as the other girl said something to her, clearly agitating her as she moved her shoulder blades to stretch out the frustration. Kelley took another step forward, throwing up her thumb over her shoulder. The girl looked over Kelley’s shoulder and got in one last comment to Jessie as she backed away, walking out through the brush. Kelley turned around and walked over, giving Jessie a tight hug and then said something as she put her hands on Jessie’s cheeks, cupping them as she spoke to her. Jessie nodded gently at whatever Kelley was saying, Mallory rubbing gentle circles on her back. When Kelley finished what she was saying, she squeezed Mal’s shoulder and looked up, catching sight of Emily and walked over to her not breaking eye contact the whole way.

 

“Sorry about that..I don't want you to think we are all highly dramatic here.”

 

“It’s fine…Is Jessie ok?” Emily sounded genuinely concerned, it made Kelley’s stomach flutter a little.

 

“Yeah she will be. A few minutes alone with Mallory and she will be a bit better. That was just her supposed best friend. Letting her know exactly what she thought of their relationship.” Kelley was shaking her head, a look of shock on her face. When she looked over she could see Mallory leaning her forehead against Jessie’s, whatever she was saying was making Jessie grin slightly. “See, Mal is good at making her laugh.”

 

“Yeah they look cute together. Have they been together long?” Kelley shook her head.

 

“No, I mean, Mal has been hooked on her for a while but Jessie’s family aren’t exactly the most accepting…so it took a while for things to really start. Apparently her friends aren’t particularly accepting either.” Kelley looked down the direction that the other girl had left.

 

“Is that why they were staying at your place?” Kelley grinned and laughed.

 

“Yeah, Mallory was desperate to spend some adult time with her.” Kelley used the air quotes around the word adult.

 

“Well that was nice of you to give them your house for the week, knowing what they would be doing.” Kelley’s nose screwed up a little but then she relaxed and a smile came from her eyes.

 

“You can’t stand in the way of true love. They don’t know it yet, but it is for them.” Kelley looked over like she was remembering something. “They deserve to have someone fight for them.” Kelley looked back at Emily. “Ready to get back to the party?” Kelley nodded her head towards the crowd.

 

“Sure am.” Kelley reached out again, this time instead of taking Emily’s finger tips, she entwined her fingers gently with Emily’s, waiting to see shat reaction she would get. Emily just squeezed Kelley’s hand back in acknowledgment. Kelley smirked at Emily, taking a sip from her beer, taking a few steps back, and then leading Emily out of the shadows.

 

Emily couldn’t help but glance down and look at Kelley’s ass as she led them back to a group of people. Kelley looked back about to say something, catching Emily’s line of sight, Emily realised she was completely busted, blushed but then shrugged. Leaving the acknowledgment out there, of her checking Kelley out. 

 

After another 2 or so hours of talking and laughing with different people,  a few groups started to taper off. It was getting closer to midnight. Clouds had started to form through the night blocking out the moonlight, making the only light from the bonfire. It started to rain lightly and within a minute, it turned heavy, causing a few woman to squeal before their true vocabulary was heard. You could take the girl out of the farm but can’t take the farm out of the girl. Everyone started to run, jumping into cars and trucks, driving off for the night, the party being bought to a premature end.  Kelley and Emily started running up towards the house, taking cover on the patio out of the rain. Kelley took in the sight in front of her. Emily looked wet and very sexy, also lucky that she was wearing a jacket over her white dress.

 

“Would you like to come in for another drink..or a coffee?” Kelley thumbed at the door, hoping Emily would want to carry on the conversation a little longer. Emily looked down at her clothes, considering her options.

“I can lend you something to change into if you like?” Emily continued to bite her lip a bit more before nodding slowly.

 

“That would be great… thanks.” Kelley walked over and opened the screen door. When she turned back to see if Emily was following her in, she saw Mal and Jessie standing out in the rain kissing, off in their own little world. Smiling to herself, happy that her friend was in love, Kelley led Emily into the house to get dry and comfortable.

 

“You can take a shower if you want? No need to stay all wet.” That was a completely innocent statement but Emily could help but smirk, causing Kelley to blush a little. Clearing her throat, Kelley grabbed a clean towel and gave Emily some dry clothes. “I’ll go make the coffee.”

 

 

 

They sat on the couch for another 2 hours talking, talking about everything and anything. From Kelley’s favourite movie to Emily’s most embarrassing experience at college. Mal and Jessie had snuck in but quickly disappeared into the room. Jessie had a sadness in her eyes and Mal walked beside her, her arm protectively around her waist. 

 

When Emily realised the time, she automatically yawned. It was going to be a tough day ahead getting all the animals fed and chores down considering it was 3 in the morning. Kelley could see that Emily was thinking about what she should do next.

 

“I’ll make you a deal….” Emily looked at Kelley intrigued. “You help me feed the horses when we wake up and then I will come with you and help you with all the things you need to get done. How does the sound?” Kelley stood in front of Emily holding her eyes in her own. Kelley reached out her hand, hoping that Emily would meet her half way.

 

“”Are you saying you want to spend the day with me, Ms O’Hara?” Emily felt a huge wave of confidence once again causing Kelley to blush. She reached out her hand and gently grabbed Kelley’s, standing up in her space.

 

“Mmm….maybe. I figure you spent the night hanging out with me after I got you all wet so the least I can do is make you breakfast.” Emily choked on her air, Kelley’s cockiness returning. “C’mon, let’s get some sleep. We have a few hours before we have a long day ahead of us.” Kelley started leading Emily into her bedroom. She looked back and saw Emily’s raised eyebrows, but not reluctance. “It’s ok Em, I promise I won’t bite………..tonight.”

 

Emily couldn’t help but giggle at Kelley. She was enjoying this comfortable banter they had fallen into. For some reason she couldn’t explain, she felt perfectly relaxed with her. Kelley pulled up her covers, sliding in and held them up for Emily to join her. She held her arm out straight, not giving Emily a choice as to whether she would snuggle with her. Emily put her head on Kelley’s chest and arm around her waist, getting comfortable in the bed with this woman she felt magnetised to. Kelley kissed Emily’s forehead softly, sleepiness quickly coming over her. Emily fell asleep with Kelley’s arms securely around her. They were the best 3 hours sleep she would ever have.


	5. What's happening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay..this is a super short update. I don't normally like posting them so short but I wanted to get something up. Thank you to all of you who have kudosed and commented. It means a lot.

It was really hard to wake up in the morning. They both knew they had a big day ahead, at least they could suffer together. 

 

But Kelley felt this need to give Emily as much extra sleep as she could. She looked so peaceful laying in Kelley’s bed and if Kelley was being honest, she definitely liked the fact that Emily was in fact in her bed. It was something that she could quite happily get used to.

 

 

 

 

Just before 8am, Kelley walked back through her screen door, kicking off her boots with absolutely no grace at all.  She found Mal making coffee. Mal didn’t look like she had got much sleep either. She looked up at Kelley with a smirk on her face and an eyebrow cocked.

 

“Am I right in saying that there is a Vet in the house?” Kelley shook her head laughing knowing that Mal was going to try and start digging.

 

“Yes, there is. I imagine she is still asleep. It was very late when we stopped talking so I offered her to stay…safety and all.”

 

“Riiight. Safety.” Mal was looking at Kelley skeptically. “Please don’t tell me that’s what you’re actually telling yourself?” Kelley looked at Mal with an eyebrow raised.

 

“What are you getting at my dear Mallory?” Mal was sizing up Kelley trying to get what she could from her body language.

 

“”There is a very attractive lady sleeping in your bed.”

 

“I won’t deny that at all. She is beautiful.” Kelley still wasn’t giving Mal anything. She grabbed another two mugs from the cupboard filling them with fresh coffee. Mal was quiet for a second, then turned to Kelley with a serious look on her face.

 

“Kelley….I saw you looking at her last night. I haven’t seen you smile like that for…for a really long time, if ever.” Kelley was quiet, gnawing on her bottom lip.

 

“Mal….at the moment, Emily and I are getting to know each other. That’s it.” Mal rolled her eyes and waited for Kelley to continue. “If anything changes, you will be the first to know my friend.”

 

Kelley grabbed the full mugs of coffee and wandered back into her bedroom. She gently shut the door with her foot, Emily stirring a little from the noise of the door clicking shut.

 

 

Kelley walked over and put the coffees on her bedside table before sliding back into bed beside Emily. Emily feeling the body warmth back beside her again, snuggled in, putting her arm around Kelley’s waist and her nose in the crook of Kelley’s neck. Wanting to wake Emily up gently, Kelley began stroking her hair, letting her finger tips graze against her cheeks. 

 

“mmm, what time is it?” Kelley found it interesting that Emily didn't stiffen in the slightest at realising that was in another persons bed when she woke up. Kelley found Emily’s morning voice to be incredibly sexy.

 

“It’s just after 8.” It was then that Kelly felt a reaction from Emily. Trying to keep her calm, she kept talking. “Hey, it’s ok. I’ve already been out to feed the horses. We are still on track to get everything done back at your place.”

 

“What? You’ve been up already? I didn’t even hear an alarm go off. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

 

“Because you were looking very happy where you were and you were doing these little snores that were so cute..” Emily smacked her chest with a gently palm causing Kelley to chuckle softly, “So I thought I would give you a little bit more sleep and feed the horses myself.” 

 

Kelley could feel Emily’s foot move up the side of her leg with a pointed toe, making it very hard to hold back a moan.

 

“That would explain why you are wearing jeans already then.”

 

“That is correct. That is why I also have coffee here waiting for you.”

 

“Thank god, you are amazing, I thought I was dreaming that smell.” Emily hadn’t moved from her spot at Kelley’s neck, and Kelley wasn’t going to do anything to encourage Emily to move away. Emily finally moved from where she was, rolling onto her back stretching out her body. Kelley slowly slid herself back up so she could lean against the headboard, also watching Emily from where she sat.

 

Slowly Emily also moved her body to sit up with Kelley, shyly smiling when she realised Kelley was watching her.

 

“You know….I don't normally do this.” Kelley smiled a little, slightly asking a question with her eyes and handed Emily her coffee.  

 

“Stay in the bed of people I don’t really know.”  Emily said as she sipped coffee from the mug she was gripping in her hands.

 

“well…good to know…But I would say you sort of know me.” Emily chuckled back at Kelley. 

 

“True, but I didn't turn up last night thinking I would be waking up in your bed.” Kelley feigned offence.

 

“What..not even a little bit of a thought?” Kelley smirked at Emily, still trying to hold back her flirting a little.  She didn't want to scare Emily off, ”I don’t know whether to be offended..or happy that you just didn’t want me for my body.” Emily slapped Kelley’s thigh and chuckled. They could both feel themselves slipping back into that comfortable playful banter.

 

 

“So what’s the plan today Doctor?”

 

“You know Kel, you don’t actually have to come help me today. I know you are probably super tired.” Kelley felt a little flutter in her chest with the way Emily shortened her name.

 

“I promised you last night that I would be helping you today..so unless you really don’t want to hang out with me….which is totally your call by the way, I’m coming to help.” Kelley had a serious but soft look on her face, showing Emily it was totally her call how the day would go. Emily placed her hand on Kelley’s thigh and squeezed it gently.

 

“I’d love your help today Kelley..thank you.” Kelley nodded showing she had accepted that answer without giving a smart comment to ruin the moment.

 

They sat there for the next 10 minutes drinking their coffees, Emily giving a run down of what needed to happen that day. 

 

Kelley got out of the bed, reluctantly moving away from the warmth of Emily, knowing that they needed to get a move on for the day. Realising that Emily didn’t have anything else to wear apart from her dress from the night before, she grabbed some shorts and a t-shirt from a draw. 

 

“I’ll go outside and let you get dressed. I figured you didn’t want to do the clothes walk of shame….being the same dress from last night.” Emily laughed, nodding.

 

“Thanks Kel, I’d like to avoid it if I could.”

 

“Okay, well, I will be out there waiting. Hopefully we can avoid the attention of Mallory and get you out of the house without all the comments I know she will be working on.”

 

“Oh, she knows I’m still here?”

 

“Yeah she was out making the coffee when I came back in. It didn’t look like she has had much sleep though so she may have gone back to bed. She did manage to get in a few quick comments though.” Emily looked like she was thinking too much about someone knowing she was there.

 

“Hey, don’t look so concerned..this is my house. Mal is all nibble and no bite.”

 

“Nibble?”

 

“Yeah, she’s not nasty, just persistent. I love her to death, but oh my god, she is like a dog with a bone when she gets onto something she likes. Thankfully, she is more distracted with Jessie around.”

 

“Yeah those 2 definitely look completely wrapped up in each other.”

 

“Oh they sure are. Jessie really is a great kid. She brings out the softer side to Mal…They both definitely deserves a little bit of happiness.” At that Kelley opened her door, smiling at Emily and then she whistled really loudly. Emily was a little stunned for a second but then started to change quickly.

 

Kelley stood in the lounge room and watched her dog come screaming through the door. “Get em boy.” Mal’s door was opened by just a crack. Kelley assumed it was so Mal could hear when Emily was trying to leave. Cyrus ran through the door and jumped on the bed causing the 2 girls to squeal.

 

“Cyrus get off me…Kelley I’m going to kill you!!!” Mal screamed from her bed.

 

Emily opened the door slightly peeking out. Kelley stood there making hurry up signals with her hands, Emily came out trying to hold back her laughs.

 

“Kel….you sneaky little shit….I won’t forget this.” Mal was giggling because she had Cyrus basically sitting on her, licking her face.

 

“Quick, lets go.” Kelley grabbed Emily’s hand and ran out the door. 

 

“Wow, you’re good at that. It makes me think you have done it before.” Emily was looking at with her eyebrow raised. 

 

“No…No I haven’t. Just some quick thinking on my feet.” Once they were both buckled in Emily started the ignition. Kelley quickly put her hand on Emily’s knee to get her attention. Kelley let out another loud pitched whistled, then a few moments later, Cyrus came screaming out the door. Kelley popped her head out the window.

 

“Up boy.”  Cyrus made the jump into the back of the tray of the truck with no problems at all.

Kelley looked at Emily with a sweet smile. “Now we can go.” 

 

Emily just smiled and let out a big breath she didn’t realise she was holding. She knew this woman in front of her was quickly becoming someone she wanted to have holding her attention. Emily felt like the day ahead was going to be one of the best days she has had in a really long time. 

 


	6. Date night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long..Please let me know your thoughts and if you want me to keep going.
> 
> Happy New Year peeps.

“Hey there little one, what’s got you staying with the Doctor today?” Kelley was sitting on the floor with Cyrus. She had just finished cleaning the stables that housed a few horses and pigs that were under treatment from the Vet. There was a small piglet that was nuzzling in amongst some hay. Kelley moved onto her knees and shuffled over to lean against the closure. Kelley watched as he kept stepping in his fresh water and spilling it everywhere.

“Dude, I just cleaned your room. Is this how it’s gonna be?” She desperately wanted to pick him up and cuddle him, but knew better than to do that without asking first. 

 

Kelley didn’t realise that Emily was watching from the corner until she heard the chuckle. Kelley got off hers knees slowly while Cyrus ran over and circled Emily excitedly.

 

“This little guy was bred from a strong bloodline and was going to be used to continue breeding. However, he is the runt of the litter and isn’t fairing as well as his brothers. So unfortunately, it doesn’t look like his owners are going to want him.” Kelley cocked her eyebrows and put her head on the side, silently questioning Emily. “They won’t invest in him Kel if he isn’t going to return in value. Purely business for them.” Kelley looked like she had just been kicked in the stomach. She knew the cycle of the farms. There were animals bred for food and there were animals bred for breeding more animals. Kelley dealt with it every day, though for some reason this little piglet was pulling at her heart strings.

 

“Can I give him a cuddle?” Emily chuckled.

 

“You definitely like cuddles, don’t you? Of course, go for it. I’m sure he would love it too.” Kelley squealed with excitement and picked him up giving him a gentle squeeze. Emily laughed again. “Did you just squeal?”

 

“Don’t be a hater.” Emily rolled her eyes but then found her eyes settling on Kelley’s ass.

 

“Oh I’m not hating in any way.” Kelley looked over her shoulder and found where Emily’s eyes had settled.

 

“Are you alright back there?” Kelley smirked as she challenged Emily, but this didn’t cause Emily to blush in any way like it normally would. She just shrugged and accepted that she had been busted. Emily was starting to feel more and more confident around Kelley now. She watched as Kelley scratched behind the piglets ear causing the piglet to snuggle into her chest for the warmth.

 

“So what’s going to happen to this little guy?”

 

“Well, if he doesn’t put on weight like he should at this age in the next week or so, I guess he will be shunned.”

 

“Shunned…that’s a little dramatic, isn’t it?”

 

“That’s exactly what will happen Kel. I know it sounds dramatic, but the owners won’t continue to pay to feed him if he wont give them any return. Pig farmers don’t want a defective breeder. You own a ranch, you know how it works.” Emily watched as Kelley cuddled the little pig, seeing her gnaw on her bottom lip, oddly quiet.  She felt this urge to wrap Kelley up and squeeze her tight to make her feel better.

 

Instead, Emily walked up behind Kelley putting her hand on the small of her back. Kelley turned her head to the side a little so Emily could see her smile at the touch. “You’re just one big softy, aren’t you?” Kelley wasn’t going to acknowledge that statement, so she just moved forward and placed the piglet back in the enclosure.

 

“Does he have a name?”

 

“I don’t name them, I get too attached if I do.” Kelley nodded and watched while Cyrus ran around digging at the side of the enclosure trying to get to the piglet. “C’mon Kelley, let me get you some lunch. We’ve gotten everything done that I needed to catch up on..thank you again for your help.” 

 

The smile that came from Kelley nearly made Emily go weak at the knees.  She knew Kelley was starting to have some effect on her and she wasn’t completely sure how to slow it down…She didn’t know if she wanted to. 

 

“Anytime Em..I’ve liked seeing your side of the tracks. I can see you really love the animals and your job.” Emily nodded gently.

 

“It can be my downfall sometimes.” Emily nodded towards the piglet, implying that attachment can be hard to live with.

 

 

Emily linked her little finger with Kelley’s and started leading her towards the house. 

 

“Honestly, I’m really glad we finished up because it was close to you finding me curled up in the hay shed.” Kelley quietly admitted. 

 

“Well now I know where to look next time if I can’t find you.” Emily jokingly shoved Kelley for the admission.

 

Both of the women just finished washing their hands when Emily’s phone rang. She looked at the number and Kelley saw her face drop in disappointment.  She was so tired but knew she still needed to answer the phone in case of emergencies.

 

“Emily Sonnett speaking.” Emily was quiet while she listed to the person talk on the other end. Kelley watched on, seeing unknown emotions cross Emily’s face.  She still didn’t know Emily well enough to be able to read all the emotions. Kelley walked over to Emily, picking her hand up and softly ran circles over her palm while she continued to talk. 

 

“Alright Ted, I guess we should check her leg out. I’ll make sure I bring the x-ray machine so we can take a scan while I’m there.” She looked at Kelley and mouthed the words ‘sorry’. Kelley just gave her back an apologetic smile. She knew how tired Emily was, even if she wasn’t going to admit it. It had just passed 1:30pm and they hadn't eaten yet either, opting to get all the jobs done so they could relax for the afternoon.

 

After ending the call, Emily began rubbing her eyes. 

 

“Are you going to be okay?” Kelley was worried about how tired Emily was.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s only a minor fracture, probably just a wrap and rest.” Emily looked at Kelley. She always felt like she was getting lost in her eyes every time she looked at her. “Thank you for last night. I really had a lot of fun with you.”

 

“Thank you for coming over. I had hoped you would.” Kelley was quiet for a minute, both of them just looking at each other, nervous about where to go from there. “Do you think…maybe…” Emily was quiet, head on the side, waiting for Kelley to say what she wanted.

 

“Maybe what Kel?”

 

“Maybe I can see you again?” Emily wanted to be clear of exactly what Kelley was asking. She needed to know Kelley felt something too.

 

“Kelley, I’m sure we will be seeing each other again..we live in the same small town.” Emily smiled, trying to keep the conversation light. Kelley rolled her eyes and started to scratch the back of her neck trying to hide her nerves.

 

“You know that’s not what I meant Emily. I want to **see** you again. Maybe you could come over and let me cook dinner for you?”

 

 

“You can cook?” Emily looked at Kelley skeptically.

 

“Don’t look so surprised, of course I can cook. I don’t live on Pizza and burgers you know. You have you seen these abs…remember??” Kelley pointed to her stomach. That statement caused Emily to blush, reminding her of just exactly what those abs looked like. Kelley got the reaction she was hoping for, Emily put her hands up in surrender. Emily put her serious face on and leant over to Kelley, placing a gentle kiss on her cheek, just to the side of her lips.

 

“I would really like that Kelley. How about you text me with what night is good for you?” Kelley smiled and nodded gently at Emily. 

 

“Sounds perfect. It will definitely be this week because I have my last big muster of the season. I’ll be gone for most of the week next week.”

 

“Oh..You’re not going alone are you?” Emily felt a wave of concern that she wasn’t expecting to feel.

 

“Mal has decided to come on this drive, she loves going through the mountains a bit more. Syd can’t make it so i will look for a third this week, just to be on the safe side. I never go alone out on jobs this size. There are too many factors involved.”

 

Emily nodded, this information made her feel a little more relaxed. She knew that Mal would do anything she needed to do to keep Kelley safe. It just seemed like the sort of girl she was. “You’re going higher than normal?”

 

“Yeah we need to go into one of the properties that leads up into the mountains. We’ve done it a few times before. Unfortunately it’s a little trickier but the views are worth it.” They both stood there looking at each other for a few moments until Cyrus’s barking broke their trance. Kelley almost shook her head to clear her thoughts. “I better let you get going. Text me later so I know you’re ok?”

 

“Sure, I think I can do that.” As soon as Emily said those words, she realised the situation. “Wait..you came in my car. I’ll drop you back home on the way out okay?” Kelley pretty much face palmed herself.

 

“Shit, sorry Em. I completely forgot.”

 

“It’s okay, I get to drop you home after our morning date. Definitely not a bad thing.”

 

“Oh so this was a date?” Kelley stepped forward again, challenging Emily to keep her eyes locked.

Emily nodded and shrugged at the same time.

 

“I don’t know if that would be cheating. There were all intentions of spending the day with you and having lunch…but then I didn’t exactly spend the morning with you because were were working in different buildings.” Kelley nodded with a smirk.

 

“Well, I guess if we don’t call this an official date then, I better hold off trying to get an end of date kiss.” Kelley could see Emily gulp hard, opening her mouth to say something but not having any words to formulate. “Only til next time of course.”

 

“Next time.” Emily started to smile with a gentle nod….”C’mon Casanova, let me get you and your barking steed home.”

 

Emily grabbed her portable scanner from her office and dropped Kelley and Cyrus off home before heading to her appointment. Luckily for Kelley, Mal and Jessie weren’t home when she got back, allowing her to slip in without payback.

 

 

 

Their date wasn’t able to happen until Thursday night that week, with both of them finding commitments popping up unexpectedly all the time. Kelley had planned for Mal to disappear for the evening, ensuring that neither Mal or Jessie would appear and ruin things. Mal had decided to take Jessie camping for the night so they could still spend the night together and not have to return to their respective homes, i.e their parents houses. Sometimes they forget they actually don’t live with Kelley.

 

Kelley had decided to make sure her afternoon was completely clear on Thursday so she could spend the time she wanted to on getting the house and dinner ready. They had made the date for 6:00pm knowing that either one of them would probably keep getting pulled away if they stayed doing something just that little bit longer. And honestly, they just wanted to se each other as early as they could.

 

Emily planned in advance that she would finish up work at 4pm to make sure she could do her hair and make up in time if she got stuck at work that little bit longer. She also made sure (if she could avoid it) that she didn’t make any appointments, just for random check ups on animals that would end up requiring her to shove her hand up some animals ass. There is just a certain smell that you walk away with at the end of the day.

 

Kelley wanted to cook something completely unexpected and show her capabilities at the same time.  So she decided on a Thai beef salad with Coconut prawns as an entree. None of it was particularly hard as she enjoyed cooking this type of food but she made sure she had the freshest ingredients possible.

 

Planning what she was going to wear was the hard part. She didn’t want to go too fancy but she didn’t want to seem like she didn't care just because it was dinner at home. This was a real date after all. Kelley was never one to get this nervous about dates either..and that was the thing that was freaking her out. She knew she liked Emily, but what was frustrating her was the feelings she felt every time she got a text. Or the butterflies in her stomach when she thought about kissing her.

 

After pulling all her pants out onto her bed, Kelley found a pair of grey dress pants that she had bought for a wedding once. They fit perfectly on her and shaped her ass like it was a peach. She paired those with a black short sleeve button up shirt and black shoes. She styled her hair in a messy pull up pony tail so there were strands that fell around her face. All in all, she thought she tidied up pretty good.

 

Right on 6pm, she heard Cyrus begin to bark. He was sitting outside on the verandah on his designated chair. He wasn’t the type of dog to go crazy and jump around at your feet so Kelley wasn’t concerned about him jumping all over Emily.

 

When Kelley heard the knock on the door, she took a deep breath, ran her hands over her pants to straighten them out…but also dry out her sweaty palms. When she opened the door, standing there on the other side was an Angel that took her breath away.

 

“Hey Kelley. Is everything alright?” Emily had a playful smirk on her face, watching Kelley open an close her mouth a few times not getting the words out she was trying to say. Kelley then shook her head to clear her thoughts and Emily thought it was the cutest thing. 

 

“Hi Emily, sorry, you look gorgeous and it sort of just took my brain a while to catch up. Come in.” Kelley stood back to give Emily the room to move through the door. As she walked past, Emily leant over and gave Kelley a quick kiss on the cheek. Kelley watched Emily walk in all the way and didn’t even try to hide it when Emily turned around and found her staring. Emily was wearing a light blue flowing dress that came just past her knees. It sat tight around her breasts, but flowed the rest of the way down. She wore high heels that accentuated her calves and her hair was wavy and sat over her shoulders. 

 

“Well Kelley, I have to say, those pants are definitely doing all sorts of things to me right now, but hey, lets try and actually have a conversation rather than just stare at each other in silence.” Kelley smiled and nodded.

 

“You’re right Em. I’ve made a delicious dinner and we have some amazing wine to drink, so take a seat and let me get you a glass.”

 

They both actually manage to pull their shit together and begin talking. They hadn’t seen each other since the weekend and both of them were keen to soak up this time together. They sat comfortably on Kelleys sofa and began to enjoy the wine. It didn’t take long for them to sit a little closer, Kelley sitting on the side, with her leg up on an angle a little bit so she could face Emily. She found herself gently touching Emily’s arm, Emily leaning in to get as close as possible.

 

Close to 7, Kelley served up dinner, leading Emily to the dinner table and pulling her chair out for her. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Emily either.

 

“Oh my God Kelley, this is delicious. Where did you learn to cook like this?”

 

“I like to try new things, challenge myself a little. Living out here by myself means I could get lazy but I don’t want to live on ramen noodles. I’m glad you like it.”

 

“Well, I’m happy to learn but definitely can’t cook like this at the moment so it’s going to be on you to cook on all our dates.” Kelley popped her head up at the moment, she had just put some beef in her mouth. A sly smile crept over her face as she thought about what Emily had just said.

 

“All of them huh?” Emily chuckled, realising what Kelley had picked up on.

 

“Yeah…of course..I mean, If I’m gonna be fed like this, damn right there will be more dates.” Kelley just kept looking at Emily silently with one of her eyebrows raised, pretending to glare and be offended. “Just kidding Kel, of course I’d like there to be more dates…” Emily went shy for a second before saying what she wanted to get out. “I like spending time with you Kelley….I like you Kelley…I would like there to be more nights having dinner together…if you are interested of course.”

 

Kelley didn’t stay quiet for too long, excited by Emily’s admission. “ I like you too Emily, I’m really glad you moved to town and I got to bump into you. Now eat up so I can take you to sit by the campfire and woo you.”

 

They slipped back into comfortable conversation and finished their meals. Just as Kelley said earlier, they went and sat by a small fire that Kelley had built outside. Kelley had set up some big pillows and blankets to sit on and under. 

 

Emily continued to sip her wine slowly, knowing that she still needed to drive that night. She also didn’t want to get drunk and have any of this night questioned due to liquid stupidity. 

 

“So, when did you know you liked woman Emily?” They had been asking fun questions trying to get to know each other better so it was no surprise that this one would finally be bought up.

 

“Well, I guess I always had a sneaking suspicion about it. I have a twin sister and she would always talk about the cute buy in the class, or in the soccer team, or just walking down the street. I swear she was a horny teenage boy in a girls body.” Kelley giggled thinking about Emily having a sister like that, hoping maybe she would get to meet her one day. “My real first thought I can remember was when I was 12. I was at a party and we were playing spin the bottle. That’s when I kissed my first boy and girl. Luckily there was a golden rule that my friends respected from a young age. If it landed on my sister, they would let me re spin.” Kelley couldn’t help but laugh at that..

 

“Yeah I imagine that would have been awkward. I’ve never thought of that being a problem in a game like that.” Emily nodded, remembering the game with wide eyes.

 

“Yeah so I kissed a boy named Warren and a girl named Cindy. I wasn’t scared about kissing either of them, I was just a kid who went with the flow. When I kissed Warren, it went..okay, nothing great…but when I kissed Cindy, well…I could have kept kissing Cindy.” Kelley giggled at Emily’s words, “Luckily Cindy was open to it happening a few more times for some fun over the years, though..she cut me off when we finally turned 15 and she got a boyfriend. When I got to college, I kept my options open, looking at both..but I just never felt that attraction. I’m mean..I’m not blind, I can appreciate a good looking person.. it just doesn’t mean I want to trip and fall onto that person..if you get what I mean.” Kelley couldn’t contain her laughter at that.

 

“Oh that’s awesome..well it’s good you were able to go through things in your own time.”

 

“What about you Kelley?” Kelley looked unsure, she wasn’t sure of what she wanted to share just yet.

 

“Well, I can’t say I had the best discovery time but hey, people have had worse….I will tell you about it sometime..just not tonight..I’m enjoying my time with you.” Emily looked at Kelley and brushed her cheek with her thumb.

 

“Kelley?”

 

“Mmmm?”

 

“Kiss me.” Kelley gave Emily a smug grin which caused Emily to roll her eyes, but she still leaned in towards Kelley. Kelley gently grabbed the back of Emily’s head and pulled her forward, their lips gently touching. 

 

At first they moved gently together, but then Kelley moved her tongue against Emily’s bottom lip and Emily granted her access. Kelley deepened the kiss, Emily moaning softly moaning into her mouth.  Neither of them realised how much time had passed, their night turning into a solid make out session.

 

The only thing that broke up there kissing was Emily’s phone buzzing with a message.

 

Emily slowly pulled herself away from Kelley taking a deep breath and slowly breathing out to control her libido.

 

“Oh crap, it’s 11pm. Where the hell did the night go?” 

 

“I’m definitely not going to apologise for distracting you all this time.” Kelley chuckled, rolling back onto the cushions and stretching out her body.

 

“Remind me to kill my sister later for texting me. She knew I would be with you tonight, she knew exactly what she was doing..the cheeky little shit.” Emily rolled her eyes at her sisters efforts.

 

Kelley reached out and pulled Emily to lay on top of her, wrapping her arms around her.  “Maybe you would like to come back another night so we can continue this then?” She spoke gently into Emily’s ear.

 

Emily lazy nodded back, her head resting in the crook of Kelley’s neck.

 

“I would love to. It is quite late, I should head home otherwise I’m not going to be able to get up in the morning.”

 

”I do know how much you like your sleep so maybe you’re right. As much as I would love to keep you here longer. I want you to be able to get home safe.”

 

Kelley ran her fingers over Emily’s cheek to get her to lift her head, leading her in for another kiss. 

 

5 minutes later Emily pulled away chuckling. “I see what you did there, nice try lady.” Emily moved to get up but just leant back enough to seperate herself from Kelley, straddling her legs. 

 

“Would you like to go to the bar tomorrow for some dancing?” Emily looked surprised again.

“You know, just because I live in the country Emily, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to woo a woman. In fact, when I woo, I do it properly. Those city slickers get too distracted by all the pretty lights.”

 

Emily threw her head back in laughter and Kelley thought it was the most amazing sound she had ever heard. Emily pulled herself up and held out her hand for Kelley to hold and helped her stand up. Emily placed her hands around Kelley’s neck and pulled her in for another kiss.

“Well, as I can’t seem to get enough of your lips, I would definitely be interested in seeing you tomorrow night.”

 

 

After sharing a few more innocent kisses, Kelley led Emily to her car, opening the door for her. They parted ways very reluctantly, looking forward to the following night.  When Emily got home, she took off her make up and collapsed in bed with as smile on her face. 

 

Back over at Kelley’s, Cyrus was cuddling up to Kelley who had fallen asleep very quickly. She still had the smile on her lips that she fell asleep with while thinking about Emily. 

 

Everything with Emily felt so easy and natural. Kelley couldn’t believe how lucky she was, like something was going to smack her in the face when she least expected it and take it all away from her. The feeling wasn’t strong enough to keep her awake because she knew she would do anything to give them a real chance. 

 

She had to.

 

She never knew how far she would need to go though.


	7. Dancin' and fightin'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the Kudos and feedback everyone. I appreciate it.

Kelley held Emily’s hand, leading her into the bar with loud music. Due to the fact they did’t live in a massive town, meant there weren’t exactly people teaming round the place, but there were definitely enough people respectively for a Friday night.

 

They decided to head out with Mal and Jessie from the beginning rather than meet out so it would give Emily some extra support. Mal tapped Kelley on the shoulder and pointed to a girl who was at the bar. Emily saw Kelley see the person and nod in acknowledgement to Mal but thats all they said on the matter. She did notice though, how Mal walked on a bit more of an angle to Jessie, blocking that person from her line of sight.

 

Kelley led them to a booth and at the back of the bar and Jessie and Emily were moved into the wall sides of the booth. Emily was a little happy about this and she actually thinks the reason is so it’s harder for other people to try and initiate conversations with them because the other girls are blocking them off. Mal spoke up first.

 

“What’s everyone want for drinks? My round..and don’t be lightweights.” Mal looked over towards Jessie who had raised her eyebrows at her. “Well…I mean, what ever you want babe.” Kelley laughed at Mal, while Jessie leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek. Emily could see just how much Mal adored Jessie and could also see the sparkle in Kelley’s eyes when she had the opportunity to give her friend shit.

 

The night was moving along quickly. Beers and whiskey were being drank and a lot of shit was being talked.  “Are you going to dance with me Kelley?” Kelley rolled her eyes but didn’t look disappointed.

 

“Yeah I knew there would only be a short amount of time I would get away with before having to do that. Are you ladies coming?”

 

“No, we might sit this one out, we’ll mind the table.” Mal looked at Jessie while she spoke, Jessie nodding her head, smiling sweetly at Mal while she spoke.

 

Kelley scooted out of the booth holding out her hand for Emily to take. The music switched between rock and country throughout the night and right now it had just moved onto one of Emily’s favourite songs she had started to love since she moved into town. She had never heard of Devin Dawson before but Country music wasn’t exactly something she listened to while in College.

 

Kelley led Emily to the dance floor and put her arms around her waist and pulled her in close. Emily placed her hands around the back of Kelley’s neck and started playing with the baby hairs on her neck.

 

“So are you having fun tonight Doc? It’s not too scary being out with the country kids?” Emily laughed. She was definitely feeling immersed in the country life now and it felt great to be there. Meeting Kelley was definitely putting the whole situation in the positive basket, but she actually enjoyed the other locals as well….just not as much as she enjoyed Kelley.

 

“I have to say Kel, I certainly enjoy myself when I’m around you…..and in general, I like it here. I don’t think there has been too much country scandal yet but I’m sure that you can help me deal with that… when the time comes of course.” Kel smiled at the implication from Emily. She would definitely like to spend more time with her. She had been thinking about those kisses from the night before all day. 

 

“So you think maybe you would like to spend a little more time with me?” Kelley was biting her lip. Emily had noticed this was something that Kelley did when she was thinking about something serious…or when she was nervous.

 

The response to that question from Emily was a soft kiss to Kelley’s lips. She didn’t care who saw, or the rumours that would start. Emily was very interested in spending more time with Kelley and she wanted her to know that for real. 

 

“Ah huh…I would.” Emily nodded slowly and then put her forehead down to rest on Kelley’s shoulder.

 

She just listened to the words of the song while she moved slowly against Kelley.

 

_‘You got my number, you can call on me_

_If you’re in trouble put the fall on me_

_When you’re mad you can take it out on me_

_When it don’t add up you can count on me_

_When you’re low come get high on me_

_Make it slow take your time on me’_

 

When the song came to an end, Kelley went to lead Emily up to the bar for drinks for the table when she spotted someone leaning over the table where Mal and Jessie were. The next thing, Mal was standing up and trying to put some space, and herself between the person infringing on their space. Kelley rolled her eyes and then changed the direction of where they were going. 

 

As they got closer, Emily could hear some of what was being said to Mal. None of it sounded nice. The person standing there was doing a good job of controlling there body language so anyone not close enough, wouldn’t know what was really going on. Mal was holding her own, although she wasn’t throwing back abusive or mean words.

 

“You stupid little..”

 

“Hey Hey now..no need for that Kerrian.” The woman standing at the table stood up straight, realising she had just been pulled up by someone else.

 

“Stay out of it Kelley. None of this involves you.” Emily slid in beside Jessie and put her arm around her for support. Somehow she knew once again, that this altercation involved her. 

 

“Jessie, you are being led astray by this ridiculous girl who seems to be telling you lies, and you are going to end up in hell. Thank god you can’t breed with her.  You’re mother is so disappointed in you.”  Emily’s jaw dropped open in shock. Is this really what Jessie has been having to live with. 

 

“Okay wow…you have just stooped to a new level.” Kelley hung her head, almost embarrassed to know the person she is speaking to. “You need to leave now and you need to leave Jessie alone. She doesn’t need to hear this crap coming from you day in and day out.”

 

“Like I said Kelley, stay out of it. You are no better than this dyke ni..”

 

“ENOUGH.” All of them went silent and turned around to the angry voice behind them.

 

“That’s enough Kerrian. I refuse to let you talk about the people in my life who actually care about me like that.” The woman attacking everyone stood there in shock. She has never heard Jessie talk out of term like this. Jessie whispered to Emily, “Would you mind letting me out please?” Emily scooted out and stood beside Kelley, winding their finger tips together.

 

Jessie stood , walked around her girlfriend giving her a soft kiss on the cheek, then stood in front of her girlfriend. It was time for Jessie to sand upper her.

 

“I have listened to so much hatred come out of the mouths of my family…It stops now. My family are ashamed of me and think I will go to hell, of course taking them with me. But tonight it stops.” Mallory had silent tears slowly streaming down her cheeks, in awe of her girlfriend.

“You go back to the people who are my family, only by blood…and you tell them…we are through….I no longer will refer to them as my family….they no longer need to refer to me as family either. I do not want to have those hateful people in my life….I won’t step a foot in that house again….all the things I have paid for, and only those things will be removed.” Kerrian was standing there in complete and utter shock.

 

“But…you…”

 

“No..it’s that simple..I’m done…I no longer have a family…” Jessie looked at her beautiful girlfriend and then to Kelley.  “Well, except for these people right here who have stood by me through everything.” Kelley looks over to her friendly security guard who had just walked up near the bar to talk to the owner. Heather realised who Jessie was talking to and spoke to the guard and then nodded their way. Heather made eye contact with Kelley and then smiled, letting her know things were ok. “Tell them not to contact me again. I will have my things…wait..actually no, I don't want anything from that house..we are done.”

 

The security guard walked over,”Everything okay here ladies?” He could tell it was extremely tense however no one had taken a step to engage in physical violence. 

 

“Thing’s are okay Mike,” Kelley spoke up of course, “We would just prefer if this person wasn’t anywhere near us, she has said some very nasty things.”

 

Mike looked over towards Kerrian, “Are you here with anyone tonight Miss?” She had gone from shocked to pissed and had a scowl on her face that would normally be very intimidating, just not to Mike. She shook her head no.  “Okay well I think maybe it’s time for you to leave and the manager of the establishment has asked for me to escort you out.”

 

“What?” Kerrian looked even more pissed and then looked over at Heather who was watching from behind the bar. Heather stood there with her arms across her chest and her eyebrows raised in a “Try and bring it bitch” sort of look. Heather moved her hand to a button under the counter and the music went dead. Everyone was looking around questioning why the music had gone out.

 

“I’ve told you before Kerrian, don’t bring that shit inside my bar…I’ve had enough.” Heather had said her piece and she pressed the button again putting the music back on. She made a ‘get out’ action with her thumb towards the door.

 

“Miss are you going to leave freely or am I going to have to forcibly remove you from the premises?”

 

“I’m leaving, don’t you dare touch me!” Kerrian huffed and turned away from the group without looking back. Heather waved happily as she walked past the bar.

 

The 4 women all let out a breath they had been holding, Jessie turned around to face them all, angling towards Mal. 

 

“I’m so sorry babe, she had no right to talk to you like that. Some of the stuff that comes out of their mouths can be so disgusting.” Jessie cupped one of Mal’s cheeks with her palm and stroked it. She looked over towards Kelley. “Thank you for always standing up for me, they have no right to talk to you like that either. I’m sorry.” 

 

“Hey, it’s okay. I don’t let them bother me. They definitely aren’t the worst words I’ve heard.” Kelley smiled, trying to make sure that Jessie knew everything was okay. Kelley turned around to Emily to make sure she was alright too.

“Hey there,” Kelley turned around to face Emily, wrapping her up in a hug. “Are you okay?”

 

Emily nodded against Kelley’s shoulder. “Yeah…..I’m fine…why are they so mean?”

 

Kelley pulled herself back to be able to look Emily in the eye. “I take it you have never come across small town folk before?” Emily shook her head.

 

“Nah I guess I was pretty lucky back in Virginia. Are there many people like her in Town?”

 

“Basically all of Jessie’s family. A few random people but otherwise this town is pretty awesome.” Kelley looked over to see Jessie comforting Mal. This is the first time she has seen that. It has always been Mal being the stronger one, but tonight, Kerrian obviously got to Mal a bit more than normal.

 

Kelley reached over and tapped Mal on the shoulder. “You alright bud?”

 

Mal made a point to shake her head like she was shaking off a bad feeling. “Yeah, she’s just….she’s such a fucking bitch. I’m so sorry you had to grow up with those people babe.” Jessie just shrugged her shoulders and leaned in to put her head in the crook of Mal’s neck.

 

Emily looked at the group and then whispered in Kelley’s ear. “How bout we all go back to your place while we are still sober enough and then we can watch movies or something. I don’t think these 2 should probably keep drinking in public.” Kelley nodded a little. She was thankful that Emily was the sort of person aware of other peoples feelings and not just out to have a fun time for herself.

 

“Hey you 2, how about we head back to my place, have many more beers and watch some bad tv together. If you’re good, maybe even a board game.” Mal laughed but appreciated her friend so much. She looked at Jessie who was already smiling back at her. “Excellent, let’s go.”

 

Kelley grabbed hold of Emily’s hand and led her away from the booth. As they walked past the bar Kelley walked behind the counter and gave Heather a hug. Emily couldn’t hear what they were saying but she saw Heather cup both sides of Kelleys cheeks while she spoke to her. Kelley was nodding gently but not looking Heather in the eye. Heather then kissed her forehead and released her hold on her. Mal looked over at Emily who was watching the exchange.

 

“They have known each other for a really long time. She is probably the person in this town that knows Kelley the most.” Emily looked at Mal surprised at that comment, “Yeah I’ve known Kelley for a while but there is still a lot she hasn’t let me in on. She can be a little guarded sometimes.” Emily considered those words as she saw Heather and Kelley look her direction. Heather said something which caused Kelley to smirk happily but then punch heather in the shoulder, shoving her away as Kelley backed up laughing. Kelley walked back over, kissed Emily on the cheek, grabbed her from behind around the waist and shuffled her out the door.

 

 

Emily was extremely surprised by the mood that Jessie was in, considering how the night went. Jessie had driven back to Kelley’s, all of them singing along to the radio. Kelley certainly hadn’t seen this side of Jessie either so she looked at Emily with just as much surprise on her face.

 

 

 

They were currently sitting at the coffee table playing a game of Game of Thrones Monopoly. To some people this may seem like a really boring night, but to these four, it was a perfect ending. No one was being abused..apart from Mal and Kelley accusing each other of cheating, no one was being groped….well…they tried.  It also gave each other a chance to get to know one another a little better.

 

“So Jessie, not to bring the party down or anything, but have you thought of what you are going to do now?” Jessie looked at Emily a little unsure of what she was referring to. “You told the wicked witch that you wouldn’t be going back to your parents.” Jessie had the wave of realisation go across her face.

 

“Oh shiiit. I completely forgot about that.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “Well I guess i need to look for a new place to live. And..I guess a job.” Jessie looked at Emily before explaining further. “I used to work down with my parents at the store..it was sort of expected for me to work there. But now…well..I don’t intend on going back.” The group fell quiet for a moment before Kelley spoke up.

 

“God damn it..I knew we should have played strip poker. Who’s idea was this anyway?. Kelly looked between the girls. Mal looked at her and replied in a deadpan tone.

 

“Your’s dip shit. Would you like to play something else now because you just lost all your money?”

 

“Don’t make me flip the board Mal.” The 2 stared each other down. Emily looked between Kelley and Mal rolling her eyes.

 

“Well Jessie, how would you feel about working with me?” All three of them snapped their heads to look at Emily.

 

“Are you serious?” Jessie looked like an excited kid on Christmas morning.

 

“Yes I am. I don’t know how uncle Roland did all this by him self.” Kelley began laughing.

 

“That’s because if you shit him off, he would just always be busy if you needed him.” 

 

“What?? Are you serious?” Emily asked Kelley and Mal spoke up too.

 

“Yeah I remember there was this one dude came to live at one of the neighbouring ranches and he said something completely offensive to Roland one day and suddenly Roland was never available to check on the cattle.” Kelley started laughing as she started remembering what happened.

 

“Oh yeah..they had to fire him because they needed their cattle checked before they sold them at the cattle yards.” Emily was shaking her head in disbelief. 

 

“My god Uncle Rolo. I know he can be stubborn but that is just….crazy..and really bad business sense.”

 

“Well, not really when you are the only vet in town.” Mal offered.

 

“True….anyway..back to the matter at hand.” Emily looked over at Jessie, a sincere look offering her a life raft. “I could use some help, I’m sure it’s nothing you haven’t done before….and you could even take the spare room at my house.”

 

“What..are you sure?” Emily just nodded back. 

 

“Of course….only a few rules…no sex on the furniture.” Emily looked at Mal who just put her hands up in surrender laughing, “and,…well that’s it really…..no sex on the furniture isn’t to hard to maintain….and yes..the counter top is in fact deemed as furniture in my books.” Kelly started laughing, but then when she noticed the blush coming over Jessie’s face she started getting concerned.

 

“What the hell..don’t tell me you have had sex on the counter top?”

Mal laughed hard..”Ok…………I won’t” She managed to spit out.

 

“God damn it Mal.”

 

 


	8. Rollin in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the love and feedback everyone. I really enjoy writing this story. Sorry some of the updates have been slow...Life..

“Do you ever wonder what would have happened if you stayed in college?” Kelley was laying in her swag under the stars beside Mal.

 

“I used to think about it all the time. Always questioning if I did the right thing coming back.”

 

“And?” Kelley looked at Mallory, both of them close to falling asleep, it had been a long day. It was their second day into their trip and they were starting earlier because they were trying to beat a storm cell that would be coming through soon. It would be the first of the season and it looked to be a good one.

 

“I really miss college, but I know I can go back if I want to. It’s not the end of the world.” Mal was quiet for a second, “But I never would have forgiven myself if I stayed in college and my dad died without me seeing him. Or my mom then losing the farm.  It was a decision bigger than me..you know?”

 

“Mmm, yeah..” Kelley yawned, burying her head further into her pillow.

 

“What made you ask that Kel?”

 

“You know, I just think every now and then about if I didn’t settle here.” Mal raised her eyebrows and perched herself up on her elbow to face Kelley.

 

“Really? What’s made you think that?”

 

“I don’t know..I think about it every now and then. I could have settled anywhere..but I chose to stay here.”  

 

“True..you could have…but if you didn’t stay, then we wouldn’t be spending so much time together…” Kelley roller her eyes, ”And you also wouldn’t have met Emily. How is Miss Emily by the way?” Kelley smiled into her pillow, Emily was giving her all kinds of feels and she was still having troubles processing them.

 

“Um..she’s gorgeous….I look forward to getting back at the end of the week anyway.”

 

“Oh really…Plans?” Kelley rolled her eyes, again but began to laugh.

 

“Let’s just say she is making it very hard to be alone in a room with her and for things to remain innocent. And before you start calling me a teenage boy, half of it is completely Emily’s fault. When you get to know her a little bit better, you’ll understand what I mean.” Mal cocked her eyebrow. “Well not in that way you idiot. You are not getting your little hands any where near her.” Mal burst out laughing at her friend.

 

“Oh don’t worry. I have enough to keep me busy. I couldn’t handle 2 women.” Mal stopped her laughing, silently pondering into the sky.

 

“Oh get over yourself Pugh…go to sleep.”

 

 

Emily was finishing up for the day, taking her bags out of her truck when she saw Jessie riding in from one of the paddocks. With the small amount of money she had, Jessie bought herself a horse from one of Kelley’s friends and some clothes. She’s had a bag in her car with some clothes from staying with Mallory, but the rest were basically burnt by her parents in the back yard after learning of her choice. Emily noticed that she was looking a little stressed.

 

“Hey Jess, what’s going on?”

 

“Hey Em….I thought I heard a noise from the paddocks last night so I thought I would go and check it out…and just our luck…I found shit.” 

 

 

Emily tilted her head on the side, trying to understand just exactly what Jessie could be talking about.

 

“Ummm, I don’t follow.”

 

“We’ve got Coyote poo in our paddocks.”

 

“Fuck! I don’t need this right now. Have we lost anything?”

 

“Not from what I could see. I didn’t find any carcasses or drag marks so I’m thinking it hasn’t had a chance yet.” Emily was standing there rubbing her eyes. “What do you want to do?” Emily was shaking her head and shrugged her shoulders.

 

“Not a lot of choice really. I can’t afford to let it get to close to the stables so I think I’m going to have to do some night patrols.” Emily’s week has been really busy so having Jessie helping her out was actually a god send. 

 

Jessie seemed to be enjoying herself too..and everyday, Emily noticed Jessie come out of her shell a little more. She was actually really smart and she knew a lot about animals. Her parents were obviously keeping her talents suppressed, knowing that with all her knowledge and confidence, she wouldn’t hang around.

 

“Um…Emily..have you ever shot a rifle?” Emily froze in her spot. Right then she realised there was a problem.

 

“Well…I have a rifle…Does that count?” Jessie rolled her eyes, finally hopping down off the horse.

 

“Who the hell gave you a rifle?”

 

At the same time they both responded..”Rolo.”

 

“Right, well, show me your rifle and I will see if it is even safe enough to use. Then…when the girls get home, I will get Kelley to show you how to use it properly.”

 

“What about til then?” Emily was feeling very concerned for her stock in the stables.

 

“I’m going to run back to Kelley’s and grab hers for tonight. While I’m there I will do one last check of her horses. They were getting a bit fidgety earlier but I think they can feel a storm coming.”

 

“Yeah Uncle Rolo always said the storms through here were pretty wild.” Jessie unsaddled her horse.

 

‘Yeah they can be pretty wild. I know Kel spoke to the weather guy before she left so lets hope he has his 50/50 guesses right.”

 

“You got a problem with the weather guy?”

 

“Oh no..it’s the best job in the world…also the only job in the world where you can say ‘It’s not going to rain’ and then it can bucket down and someone can say, ‘oh you know that mother nature, she can be sneaky little minx’.” Emily was looking at Jessie like there was a complete stranger standing front of her.

 

“Wow Jess, I think you have some emotions to deal with there.”

 

 

 

 

 

Emily and Jessie were sitting on Kelley’s porch waiting for the other 2 women to turn up. They were supposed to arrive a few hours earlier but they came riding in just as the rain started coming down lightly. Emily stood up and walked to the stairs on the railing and could here the discussion going on between the 2 riding in.

 

“Dude, I’m sorry. I’ve been telling you that since this morning. Can you let it go?”

 

“Mal, I’m damn hungry and we are late.”

 

“How are we late. We run on our schedule.”

 

“No Mal. We run by my schedule. That’s why I put so much work into our preparation before we go.  We cut it too fine with that storm. If we had gotten stuck on the other side of that ridge we would have been fucked.”

 

Emily and jessie watched the girls ride up slowly and were quite surprised by the moodiness of the pair.

 

Kelley’s facial expression changed when she was close enough to lock eyes with Emily.

 

“Well Hi Ladies, what brings you to these parts of town?”

 

Jessie rolled her eyes at Mallory, Mal looked straight at Jessie, “Hey Cutie.” Jessie smiled and glanced over towards Kelley before looking back to Mallory for an answer. Mal just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

 

 

 

Kelley looked over at Mallory, took a deep breath and spoke. “Thank you for going on the ride with me Mal. You’re a pain in my ass but I love you.” Mal made kissy faces at Kelley who then looked at Emily. “Hi hot stuff. Are you both going to stay for dinner?”

 

“I think that would be nice. I actually bought over some fresh food to cook…..and it might just be simmering on the stove.”

 

“Oh my god..you are the best. I’m so effing hungry. This one didn’t pack us enough food. You think I would learn by now.”

 

“‘C’mon, lets go take off the saddles and then we can set in for the night.” Emily walked down to step beside Kelley as she demounted. 

 

“We can set in…What have you got in mind young lady?” Emily rolled her eyes and slapped Kelley over the arm. Emily then leant over and gave Kelley a kiss.

 

“I’m glad your back safe Kelley.” Kelley grinned at Emily, enjoying coming back from a job and having someone waiting for her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“So you got the Coyote then?” Jessie nodded.

 

“Yeah, it came right down into the stables and I got it as it was trying to get in the front barn door.”

 

“Wow, you guys definitely had an eventful time while we were gone.” Mal said, “I’m glad neither of you shot your foot off though.”

 

Jessie looked up offended. “Oh fuck.” Mal mumbled.

 

“Excuse me..and why do you think I would have shot my foot off. Emily, absolutely no question…but me..I can shoot.” Mal was trying to back track.

 

“Babe..I didn’t mean.”

 

“Oh yes you did. You meant that I couldn't shoot.”

 

“I’ve just never seen you shoot, that’s all.”

 

“And I’ve never seen you shoot, you jerk.”

 

“Okaay..how about this. Lets have a target competition. We can put a bet on it.”

 

“Oh, you are that confident huh?”

 

“Yep, loser is the winners slave for the day.” Jessie looks to consider the challenge. She squints her eyes, increasing the dramatics before nodding. “Fine, it’s a challenge.”

 

 

Emily had watched the pair have their exchange when she saw Kelley walk out from the hall, she had just gotten out of the shower having decided she could wait to eat until she felt cleaner. Emily was standing in the kitchen and had watched her walk out of the hallway and move to pat Cyrus on the head. Kelley could feel some eyes on her and when she looked around, Emily was still looking. Kelley stayed silent but continued to keep her eyes locked with Emily, raising her eyebrows a little in acknowledgement that she had busted her. Kelley walked over towards Emily, sidled up right beside her and whispered in her ear.

 

“Emily, if you keep looking at me like that, I’m not going to be eating in the kitchen.” Kelley could see Emily swallow hard as she stayed close and then kissed her on the cheek.

 

Emily figured she might as well own it. Emily turned her head slightly to look at Kelley side on. “Those jeans look like they mould every bit of your legs…..but as much as I like them..I have absolutely no issues with taking them off.” Emily leant over and kissed Kelley on the lips quickly before taking something over to the kitchen table. Somehow Emily had managed to turn it around and Kelley couldn’t move, needing to shake her head to clear the fog.

 

Mal had watched them from where she was sitting at the table. She could see that although Kelley would deny it, she was already whipped.

 

 

 

 

After dinner and a few beers, all the girls were relaxed after cleaning the kitchen. Jessie and Emily told stories of how Jessie’s first week had gone and Kelley had a dig at Mal again at how little food she packed for the muster. Luckily there was enough food for Cyrus because Kelley packed that. The poor dog looked exhausted, he wasn’t moving from his spot by the door.

 

The rain had set in and it was quite heavy now. This is not the weather to get stuck in out in the valleys’. The rain makes the rivers so much harder to cross and some of the other lower areas have been known to flash flood. This is the rain that they need every year however. The crops stay relatively dry other wise, but there are a few wheat farmers around and they cherish this rain.

 

 

“Are you taking me to bed babe?” Mal looked at Jessie, not even trying to hide her intentions.

 

“You’re unbelievable.” Jessie looked over to Kelley. “Thanks for bringing her back in 1 piece Kelley. I know she can be quite the challenge.” Mal feigned offence.  Jessie stood up and took Mal’s hand leading her into her bedroom, shaking her head and giggling as Mal whispered in her ear.

 

Kelley looked at Emily who was gnawing on her bottom lip. “You’re not really considering driving home are you? I can see your brain working overtime.”

 

“Well, I don’t want to just assume you want me to stay, you’ve had a big week away.” Kelley stood up and walked over to Emily, grabbing her hand and bringing her up to stand. Kelley moved to stand as close to Emily as she could, ghosting her lips over Emily’s.

 

“I want you to stay Emily.” Kelley whispered and then closed the gap between their lips. 

 

The kiss started out slow, both of them enjoying being back together after being apart for a week. Emily’s tongue flicked out and surprised Kelley, but she welcomed it and then deepened the kiss. Kelley weaved her fingers through Emily’s hair and rested her hands on the back of Emily’s neck. Emily’s hands slowly made their way down the centre of Kelley’s back, finally resting on Kelley’s lower back, holding her hips in close.

 

Kelley pulled herself back, finishing the kiss with a gentle peck. Emily’s eyes were glazed over and had gone dark. Kelley took her hand and lead Emily into her bedroom, closing the door once they were inside.  

 

Kelley pulled Emily back in and deepened the kiss immediately. They both knew where this was leading and neither of them were holding back. 

 

Emily’s fingers grazed over Kelley’s stomach under her shirt, slowly lifting it, pulling it over Kelley’s head. Kelley pulled off Emily’s immediately after. Emily grazed her fingers tips over Kelleys’ Abs, the ones she adored so much, on her way up to cup her breasts. Her thumbs pass over the material covering Kelley’s breasts, but the material was thin enough that Kelley felt every passing of Emily’s thumbs. It was sending a very strong tingling sensation through her body. 

 

Kelley’s hands were resting on Emily’s hips but she slowly moved them up Emily’s sides, bringing goosebumps out all over her skin. Kelley unhooked Emily’s bra and slowly moved the straps down Emily’s arms, exposing her breasts. Kelley let out a short gasp of air, seeing Emily’s breasts made her mouth go dry. She moved her hands to cups Emily’s breasts, squeezing them gently, her thumbs rubbing over her nipples. Emily’s head rolled back at the sensation, she then moved to remove Kelley’s bra. She bent down immediately at seeing Kelley’s breasts, sucking one into her mouth and palming the other. Kelley let out a moan that should have been illegal, Emily found it was such a turn on. 

 

When Emily returned her mouth to Kelley’s lips, Kelley moved Emily back towards the bed until her knees hit the mattress. Emily  sat down on the bed and found that she was at a good height to suck on Kelley’s breast again. She did it with more hunger this time, almost causing Kelley’s eyes to roll into the back of her head as Emily’s tongue rolled around her nipples. Kelley pulled her nipple out of Emily’s lips causing a popping sound. She pushed Emily’s shoulder gently showing her that she wanted her to move back further onto the bed. Emily starting pulling herself back wards and as she moved, Kelley unbuttoned Emily’s pants and grabbed the belt loops, pulling them off as Emily moved further back. 

 

After throwing Emily’s jeans on the ground, Kelley started making her way up the bed to hover over Emily’s body. She leant back down and began kissing her again. Kelley moved her right hand up and down Emily’s stomach but then dipped low enough to reach where she really wanted. She cupped Emily’s wetness causing both of them to moan at the feeling. She applied some pressure with her palm but then let 2 of her fingers slide through he wetness. Emily didn’t even try and be quiet.

 

“Oh fuck Kel..Damn I need you.” Kelley deepened her kiss knowing that Emily wouldn’t be able to say much as she gently pushed those fingers inside Emily. Emily instantly bucked her hips up to force them deeper.

 

“Damn you’re so wet.” Kelley began biting small kisses down Emily’s neck

 

“Harder Kelley, I want to feel you so deep.” Kelley moved to put her own thigh on top of her hand so every grind into Emily’s thigh helped her go deeper. Kelley honestly wanted to keep doing what she was doing forever. The feeling of Emily all around her fingers made her want to cum right there herself. She could tell Emily was getting close with how she was breathing and digging her nails into Kelley’s back. To be able to focus on what she was doing and not the scratching down her back, Kelley bit down on Emily’s shoulder causing her to scream in both please and surprise. Kelley kept her mouth on Emily’s shoulder and gently sucked on the bite to take away the sting before moving back to Emily’s jawline. Emily was taking deep breaths trying to regulate her breathing and was looking at the ceiling trying to stop from spinning. 

 

“Are you okay?” Kelley chuckled softly.

 

“Oh yeah, just need a minute. You just nearly knocked me out with lack of oxygen.”

 

“Well I’m glad I was able to take your breath away.” Kelley glanced down at Emily’s shoulder and saw the teeth outline. “Sorry I bit you.”

 

Emily surprised Kelley when she started rubbing her clit while still on top of her. “I’m not sorry.” Kelley  took Emily’s lips hungrily while she continued to feel Emily’s fingers between her legs. She wanted to buck into Emily, really she just wanted to feel Emily all over her.

 

“Move up.” Kelley looked at Emily confused. Emily tapped her chin, “Move up, I want to taste you.”

Kelley’s eyes bulged at the thought. She wasn’t big but she didn’t want to hurt Emily. “Trust me. Move up and hold onto the bed head.”

 

Kelley reluctantly moved up until she was hovering over Emily’s face. She felt her ass cheeks being grabbed and then her body pulled down. Kelley instantly felt a hard tongue thrust inside her. The feeling was indescribable. Without intention, Kelley began to ride Emily’s face, her hands on the bed head balancing her while she was moving. Kelley could quickly feel her stomach tighten and although she didn’t want to cum too quickly, boy did she want to cum. Emily gripped tighter onto Kelley’s thighs which caused another stir in Kelley’s stomach. The desperation that Emily was showing in trying to hold Kelley as close as she could helped to cause Kelley to crash over the edge. And when she did, she leaned forward and tightened her whole body up. When she felt a couple of little taps on her thigh, she remembered she had to get off Emily’s face so she could breath. Kelley rolled off to land beside Emily, who looked quite pleased with herself.

 

“That was intense.” Kelley said as she was looking at Emily’s face, trying to get a read on what she was thinking.

 

“It sure was…. Thank you for asking me to stay.”

 

“There was no way I could have let you walk out that door tonight.” Kelley leant over and gave Emily a kiss, tasting herself on her lips. “I’d like to get used to having you around.”

 

Emily thought about if for a second before asking. “Kelley, was that your way of asking me to be your girlfriend?” Emily received a shy nod from the freckled face girl. “Well…..seeing as I can’t get enough of you…Yes. I would love to be your girlfriend.”

 

Kelley was ecstatic and held Emily’s face with both hands while she kissed her with everything she had..but had to pull back because it was starting to get heated and their bodies were starting to move in sync again. “I definitely think we should stop here because I honestly do not want my first fuck up as your girlfriend to be I fall asleep on you while someone’s fingers are somewhere.” Emily couldn’t help but laugh. She knew Kelley would be really tired and was surprised she lasted this long.

 

“Yeah you must be happy to have a bit of rain to break up the musters. You get to stay home for a little while now?”

 

“I sure do. I can see you every day now…if you can put up with me that much.”

 

“I’m pretty sure spending my time with you will be quite enjoyable.” Emily moved her eyebrows up and down.

 

“Oh the heartache.” Kelley moved her hand over her heart pretending to feel the pain. “Are you saying you are just with me because of my body?”

 

Emily shrugged in response, “Have you seen your abs?”

 

“Ohhh, ouch…okay..I see how it is.” Emily grabbed Kelley and pulled her over to lay on her chest so she could hold her.

 

“I have to go out to one of the properties in just over a week.” Kelley looked up in surprise. “Yeah it’s the perfect time to fit between the storm cells coming through and one of the properties needs some of there stock checked….It’s not ideal…and I hate that god damn helicopter…but it’s the best time to go…otherwise I’m going to miss my window for who knows how long.”

 

Kelley was beginning to grind her jaw. “Kel..everything will be fine. I have the same pilot Uncle Rolo always used and he usually got himself into some pretty precarious spots.”

 

Kelley was rubbing Emily hip with the hand that was resting over her body. “Well lets make sure we follow those storm cells every day leading up to that trip.”

 

“Of course… I hate that helicopter.”

 


	9. Windy times

Kelley woke up with Cyrus barking at the front door to the house. It wasn’t like that, ‘I’m hungry, feed me’ bark, this was a continuous bark at the same tone. There was a little bit of light coming through the curtain, but for the most part, it was still dark. 

 

She then saw the other body in the bed with her and a big grin came over her face. Everything that happened the night before left a very warm feeling in her chest, but unfortunately, that annoying barking was taking away the fuzzy feeling. Both Emily and Kelley had decided to put on clothes as they were going to sleep to be safe. As much as they both would have liked to have woken up tangled naked together, they had an inkling that because Mal would have assumed that Emily would have stayed over, they would have had some form of pay back for a previous prank of Kelley’s.

 

Kelley rubbed her hands over her eyes to make them focus faster, stumbling out through the bedroom door. It wasn’t raining but there was definitely an eerie feeling to the air.

 

“Cyrus, god damn it dog, do you seriously have to do that?” He was standing with his nose to the inside of the door, standing still, barking. Kelley could hear muffled talking coming from the other room with he girls, indicating that they were awake because of the barking too. 

 

“What’s going on?” Mal’s raspy voice broke through Kelley’s thoughts as she was about to open the door. 

 

“I don’t know man, maybe he heard someone out there. I haven’t heard anything though.” 

 

A shrill alarm came from both of the rooms at the same time. It was the safety alert tone on there phones. Kelley and Mal looked at each other, taking a while to realise what was happening. 

 

“Fuck, get Jessie!” Kelley yelled to Mal who jumped back in the room with realisation all over her face. Kelley sprinted back in the room to get Emily. She wished that on this morning after they had spent their first night together, she would be able to wake her up in any other way, luckily she was already stirring because of the alarm.

 

“Whats going on Kel?” 

 

“Get up babe…we have to get into the shelter.” Emily’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“There must be a storm..I don’t know. The alarm has gone off and Cyrus won’t shut up, I don’t think we have much time.” Emily jumped up and Kelley grabbed her hand leading her out to the front door. Mal was standing on the front verandah with Cyrus beside her barking off to the right. Mal seemed frozen in her spot, Jessie was already pulling at the handle of the shelter beside the house. When Kelley got out the front she realised what had Mal frozen in her place. There was a large twister off to the distance but it looked like it was coming straight for them.

 

Kelley took off running in the direction of the shelter pulling Mallory along the way with Emily on the other side of her. “Cyrus c’mon boy.” Kelley was yelling out to Cyrus but he wasn’t moving.

 

“Move as far back in the shelter as you can, I’ll be with you in a second.” Jessie and Mallory climbed into he shelter but Emily was hesitating. Kelley gave Emily a gentle nudge, trying to stay calm before she turned back around “Cyrus, COME!” Kelley put all her authority into her voice that she could. A piece of plaster board flew through the air just missing Cyrus, scaring him enough to make him run towards Kelley. Emily was waiting inside but right at the door to make sure Kelley was going to get in. Scooping Cyrus up in her arms, Kelley leaned down to pass him to Emily before climbing down the ladder and closing the doors behind her. 

 

The noise was becoming insanely loud, indicating that the storm was getting so much closer. The pressure in the air built around them as well, feeling forceful against their bodies. Mal was holding Jessie as they leant against the back of the shelter and Kelley pointed to Emily to move to the back also. Emily squatted down low and Kelley wrapped her body around Emily with her back to the door, it felt instinctual for her to want to protect Emily.  Cyrus was panting heavily, his fear showing as he snuggled into Emily. 

 

No one could really speak because it was so loud but Kelley did her best to try and keep Emily calm by whispering ‘it’s gone be okay’ over and over again. Kelley had been lucky to only experience 2 tornados in her life, but Emily didn’t grow up there, so this was her first time and it was scary as hell. Even with Kelley going through Tornados already in her life, they never got any less scary.

 

It seemed like hours but it was probably a total of 5 minutes for the noise to go completely. They wouldn’t be sure of the damage until they saw outside but Kelley was silently praying that she didn’t just lose everything she owned. Once she felt it was safe enough, Kelley moved to the shelter doors and unlatched them. She needed to put her whole weight behind opening the doors back up, they were so solid but certainly did the job intended. She slowly moved her head out, looking around for any immediate danger, ensuring nothing was hanging above or likely to fall on them.  Kelley climbed up out of the shelter and took a deep breath, rocked her head back and threw her hands up in the air triumphantly. “Oh thank fuck!!”

 

The other 3 girls climbed out to stand beside Kelley, all of them observing the path that the tornado took, so obvious due to the ripped up ground and pulverised trees. Luckily her house and stable were untouched, the pathway of destruction veering off to the right. 

 

“Fuck Kelley…that missed your house by about 30 Yards.” Kelley stood there nodding slowly in silence. She then looked over to Emily who was white as a ghost.

 

“Hey are you okay?” Kelley wrapped her arms around Emily, engulfing her body. Emily nodded her head silently, her forehead leaning against Kelley’s chest. “Hey everything is okay, we are okay, that’s the most important thing.”  Kelley could feel Emily’s body shaking slightly, from fear and also she had started crying. The situation had all become too much.

 

“We were cuddling in bed….and then this happened.”

 

“I know babe…but we are all okay.” Emily looked up with a little bit of a grin and then put her head back against Kelley’s chest. “What was that little look for?” Kelley whispered into Emily’s ear, while she was running one of her hands through Emily’s hair, tucking a lose strand behind her ear.

 

“You just called me Babe again.” Kelley had her eyebrows raised in acknowledgement, her head nodding slightly.

 

“Ahuh..you picked up on that did you?” Emily just nodded her head against Kelley’s chest again, still holding her tight.  “Well, these are the things you do to me Emily.” 

 

Jessie’s voice broke them from their moment.

 

“I wonder how long that thing was moving for?” Jessie was pointing in the direction of where the Tornado came from. “It’s probably knocked down a few power lines along the way.” Mal moved up the steps to the door and flicked the light switch. “Yeah the power is out, who knows how long that will be out for?”

 

“I need to go check my place.” Emily’s head suddenly shot up with concern. “I need to know if any of the animals have been hurt.”

 

“C’mon, I’ll drive you over.  I’ll check out how much damage is done along the way. I imagine it will take a while for them to fix the lines but I’ll hold off for a few hours with the generator. The fridge will stay cool enough for a while. I’ll just boil some water on the stove real quick for some coffee if you guys want some and then we will head off.”

 

 

 

The girls got themselves ready, Mal and Jessie getting ready to go and check on Mal’s parents.

 

“You need anything from home Jess?” Emily checked with the younger girl before she shut the truck door.

 

“No it’s cool thanks Em. Once we finish over at Mal’s, I might head over as well..…behave.”

 

 

 

 

On the way over to Emily’s farm, you could follow the very clear path of the Tornado. It had definitely increased in size along the way. They could see where it had crossed over the road, a big red tractor and a squashed car littering the road. Power lines were down intermittently. It would take a little bit of time for those to be completely repaired. Kelley could tell that Emily was extremely nervous, her knee was bopping up and down.

 

Kelley reached out to grab Emily’s hand and started rubbing soothing circles over the top of her knuckles. “Hey, it’s going to be ok. If there is any damage there, you aren’t going to be in this alone Em.”

 

Emily looked over towards Kelley with concern but also a glint of happiness knowing that she officially had Kelley on her side.  As they got closer, Kelley’s concern increased as well, seeing where the path of the Tornado had come from. 

 

Once they got up the driveway of the property, they could see that the feed barn had been completely destroyed. Luckily, Emily only had that 1/4 filled as she never needed to keep a large amount of hay on site. The animal barn had a door ripped off but apart from that, all 5 animals were accounted for. 

 

“I can’t believe how lucky I was as well. It could have so easily taken everything from me.”  Emily spun around taking in a stock take of her property. 

 

“Yeah those things look beautiful but they definitely aren’t prejudiced when it comes to destruction. Everything can change in a blink of an eye. Let me help you feed the animals and maybe check your power too.” Neither of them were too surprised when Emily flicked the switch but nothing happened.

 

“Well, considering the amount of power lines that are down, it’s no wonder that we are both out of power. I’ve got a gas cooktop, so how about I make us some breakfast to use up some of my food. Then how do you feel about taking on my cold food rather than letting it go to waste?” Kelley’s eye lit up at the thought of food, but also at the thought of Emily possibly staying over because of the power issue. 

 

It was still early but it was going to be a long day. They would need to check around the town with people to see if they needed any help after the storm and Kelley had a feeling that Emily would be called out for assistance with any injured animals.

 

 

They were silent as they ate breakfast together, trying to wrap there minds around what happened that morning, but also the previous night between them.

 

When they were finished, Emily stood up and took both their plates over to the sink, not realising Kelley was sneaking up behind her, she felt warm arms wrap around her waist tightly pulling her body up against Kelley’s front.

 

“Thank you for staying last night.” Kelley whispered into Emily’s ear. She began nipping gently at the skin just below her earlobe. Emily angled her neck over a little more taking in the feeling that Kelley was giving her.

 

“Thank you for letting me stay. I really missed you while you were gone this week.” Kelley’s nipping continued down to where Emily collarbone meets her shoulder. Emily felt the shiver move through her body. Kelley’s hands began to roam a little over Emily’s body. Her left hand sat on Emily’s hip holding her right where Kelley wanted her while her right hand slid up under Emily’s shirt, moving from her stomach to cover Emily’s breast. Kelley continued to squeeze gently over the bra’s material, not wanting to push her luck too quickly but needing to feel Emily as much as she could. 

 

“Damn Emily, you’re skin tastes so good.” Kelley’s tongue darted out and she licked Emily up the side of her neck to then suck on her earlobe. Emily’s knees were starting to shake from going weak due to Kelley’s touch. 

 

“Fuck Kelley…the things you do to my body.” Emily took a step towards the countertop, placing her hands on the edges to give her a bit more support, her breathing became ragged and her knuckles were white from holding on to the countertop so tightly. Kelley’s hand that had been squeezing Emily’s breast moved down along the side of Emily’s stomach. The finger tips reached Emily’s waistband of her pants and slowly moved down under the material of her underwear as well.

 

Kelley’s cold skin came in contact quickly with Emily’s warm centre. Emily gasped at the touch and Kelley moaned at the sensation on her fingers. “Oh my god Emily,” She drawled out in a moan. “You feel so amazing..and you are so fucking wet for me.” Kelley’s left hand moved back up to grab Emily’s breast again while she continued to move her fingers through the slick wet beneath Emily’s underwear. 

 

Emily continued to hold onto the bench letting it take a little of her weight as she allowed Kelley to continue what she was doing with her hands, and also the nipping and sucking on the soft skin of her neck. 

 

Kelley began moving her fingers around in a soft circle bringing out a moan from Emily and a little thrust of her hips.  She applied a little more pressure and made the circles a little smaller, picking up the pace and she knew it wouldn’t be long before Emily fell off the edge. Kelley desperately wanted to be inside her but she didn’t want to stop what she was doing. 

 

She couldn’t help herself and moved her left hand to move down over Emily’s ass. Without any warning to Emily, she plunged in 2 fingers and let them be still for a moment before removing them and thrusting in again. The orgasm that was building inside Emily was intense and she couldn’t keep quiet, or stand up without the support of the counter top. Kelley could feel Emily pulsating on her fingertips, she knew she was close.

 

Emily would have been embarrassed by the noises she was making if she cared at all. But she didn’t…because Kelley made her feel things that she had never felt before and it was glorious. With a loud moan, Emily slumped over the bench top, basically collapsing due to exhaustion.

 

Kelly continued kissing Emily’s neck, letting her come down slowly.

 

“That…that was intense.” Emily managed to stutter out.

“Yeah that is definitely how I would have liked to wake you up this morning rather than dragging you into a storm shelter to escape a Tornado”

 

Emily finally gathered her bearings, stood and turned around wrapping her arms around Kelley.

 

“How do you feel about bringing over your 4 horses and the pig to my place and staying until the power is back on?”

 

“Oh Kel..I couldn’t expect you to do that. We have no idea how long the power will be gone for.”

 

“And…what’s your point?”

 

“Well, we have just started dating and I don’t want you to get sick of me.”

 

“But Em, we are lesbians. We would only be doing what every Lesbian has done for generations before us.” Emily giggled and smacked Kelley on the shoulder. “But seriously Em, come over to my place. We will have the generator and there is plenty of room for the horses…….and that freakishly cute piglet.”

 

“Well now seems as good as any time for you to take the pig home. I was going to give him to you as a present, the owner decided they weren’t going to continue on with him.” Kelley let out a little squeal of excitement.

 

“Yes!!!! I was totally going to ask to look after him while you were away next week anyway.”

 

“Jessie would have looked after him you know?”

 

“That’s not the point. Kevin needs to be loved too.”

 

“Kevin? Really?”

 

“Yes..now, let’s start planning to get these horses over to my place…and if you have a cooler, we can move the food when we move the horses.”

 

“Actually,” Emily nodded her head down the driveway to where Jessie and Mal were coming from. “How about you wash your hands, wipe that smug smile off you face and get those 2 to take the food.”

 


	10. Far

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Peeps, thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.....

“Emily…it’s right there. Right in front of you. I can’t make it any clearer.” 

 

“Kel..You’re insane..if you think that..that…looks like anything in particular.” Kelley was getting frustrated, her marker repeatedly tapping the picture in front of her, like that would suddenly make Emily understand.

 

Mal and Jessie were giggling from the side, enjoying seeing the frustration oozing from the 2 woman in front. “Okay ladies, that’s time.” Kelley threw her pen down and her hands up in the air.

 

“This is a stupid game.”

 

“Don’t be such a sore loser Kel. You were the one who suggested this game. Just because you and Em haven’t gotten to the point where you can finish each others sentences yet, don’t take it out on everyone else.” Kel sat down in a huff next to Emily, cuddling into her side even though she was frustrated.

 

“So Kelley..Care to explain your master piece over there?” Kelley had always loved playing Pictionary, but she was quickly hating playing against Jessie and Mal. Even though they don’t even finish each others sentences, they have a weird case of ESP.

 

“I had the word vegetarian. How the hell do you draw vegetarian?” Suddenly it dawned on Emily.

 

“Oh, so that’s a person eating a vegetable?” Kelley silently nodded her head. Emily burst out laughing. “Can one of you help her out at all?” Emily waved her hands towards Mal and Jessie who were looking at each other. Jessie shrugged and smirked.

 

“It looks like a lady sucking on a dick.” Mal coughed at how blunt her girlfriend was. Kelley looked horrified and then her head angled to the side, thinking…then her eyebrows arched up, the realisation setting in.

 

“Oh….sorry babe. I guess that action isn’t particularly familiar with me so I never even thought about it.”

 

 

 

 

“I don’t want you to go.” Kelley said in between ragged breaths.

 

“Shush…stop thinking about it… Focus.”  Emily grabbed Kelleys hips tighter, trying to hold her closer. Kelley was straddling Emily, grinding their centres together, both of them close to orgasm.

 

“Fuck…are you close Em?”

 

“God yes..I wanna cum with you.” Emily had her eyes closed tight and was enjoying the sensation building between herself and Kelley. 

 

“Open your eyes Emily..Look at me.” Emily opened her eyes, locking them with Kelley’s burning dark eyes, Kelley tweaked Emily’s nipple, sending her over the edge, Kelley right along with her.

 

“Oh fuck…” Kelley slumped down on top of Emily, her head in the crook of Emily’s neck, both glistening in sweat.

 

It took another couple of minutes for either of them to put words together into a sentence.

 

“Do you think they heard us again?” Kelley chuckled quietly at Emily’s question.

 

“Most likely. Not that it’s really a concern. I have heard more than my fair share of noises come from that room.”

 

“I take it that Mal is officially living here now?”

 

“It’s funny, we haven’t even spoken about it. Maybe she is just hoping I don’t bring it up.” 

 

“But you don’t want her to go though, do you?” Emily was holding Kelley still against her chest, stroking her hair softly. Echoing through the house softly was a quiet moan, followed by a “Fuck me.” Kelley lifted her head up so she could look at Emily, both of them starting to laugh.

 

“Yeah well I haven't decided yet.” Kelley rolled her eyes softly, Emily knowing Kelley had no intention of asking Mallory to give her house back to her. “They are just lucky neither of them are dudes, with the way those 2 go at it. There would be a little Jessie running around in no time.”

 

Kelley began kissing Emily’s neck softly, giving little nips as she worked her way over Emily’s collar bone.  “What time do you have to leave again?”

 

“I need to go back to my house first to get all the gear I need, then the Chopper leaves at 12:30. We expect the storm to be gone by then.”

 

“How are you feeling about it?” Kelley knew that Emily hated the thought of getting on that Machine, but knows that Emily would never stand down from a job without a really good reason. Hating helicopters is just not enough of a reason.

 

“I absolutely hate the thought of getting on that thing but I have to trust that everything will be ok. It’s not like these guys got their licenses from the frosty flakes box.” 

 

“So I guess you need to be out of here by about 9am?” Kelley was still kissing Emily’s neck.

 

“Uhuh.”

 

“Does that mean I should really behave and let you get some sleep?”

 

“As much as I want your head between my thighs right now..sleep… probably a good idea.” Kelley gave Emily one last longing kiss and then rolled off to the side, laying with her legs over the top of Emily’s shins and arm around her waist. “Jessie will look after the horses while i’m gone and then we will take them back to mine when I get back. The power should be on by then.”

 

The power was slowly being connected around the surrounding towns. None of the girls were in a particular rush for it to get fixed, all happy to stay at Kelley’s. Kelley secretly enjoying the company probably the most.

 

“What are you doing with yourself while I’m away?”

 

“I’m going to help HAO down at the bar, there is a leak coming through the roof somewhere and then I’m also catching up with Syd and Dom. They promised me steak.”

 

 

 

 

Kelley was standing on the roof of the bar while HAO was yelling up to her to be careful.

 

“HAO…I promise you, I have done this before. I can see a few screws missing from around these sheets so I might take them off before adding some extra screws and actually see if there is any damage underneath.”

 

“So Kelley, tell me about Emily.” Kelley looked over the ledge of the roof and looked at HAO with a big smile on her face.”

 

“What would you like to know Heather? She’s amazing..gorgeous, funny..and she gives Mal the shits like she has known her for years.”

 

“I haven’t seen you like this with anyone since..well actually, I don’t think I have actually seen you to this level of heart eyes before.” Kelley nodded in agreement.

 

“I honestly don’t think I have felt like this with anyone before HAO. She completely gets me and isn’t sick of me yet..so I take that alone as a personal win.” Kelley puled back the sheet that was missing the most screws and screwed up her nose at the smell. “Man…it is moist in there.”

 

“Kelley that is such a disgusting word. Please don't talk about my roof being ..”

 

“Moist? Well, it is. These screws have been missing for a while it seems. I think it’s best to completely rip out all the insulation around here and then we can see just how far that moisture has travelled.”

 

Suddenly clumps of insulation were flowing through the air, hitting the ground with a thud. 

 

“Okay, I think we are good. The leak hasn’t gone too far, nothing we can’t fix. Before I set into here too much I’m gonna do a loop and make sure there aren’t any other leaks. We all know we have some big storms coming through soon.”

 

“Yeah hopefully no more Tornados. We were really lucky with that one.” Kelley nodded at HAO.

 

“Man, it just missed my house, completely. Like, I had no damage. If another one comes through, I know I’m not going to be so lucky. It only ripped a door off the barn at Emily’s too. Cyrus woke us up just before the alarm came through as well. I’m definitely thanking all the deities. I’m really happy Emily was at mine. I don’t think she would have known what to do if she was at her house.”

 

“Does she stay at yours a lot?” Kelley smirked, knowing exactly where HAO was going with this line of questioning.

 

“Since the twister..every night. We are sharing the generator. Jessie is staying with Mal too so sort of makes sense…That was actually the first night we got together so it’s all sort of happened from there.”

 

“Well it’s great that it has happened naturally, rather than just from a night out at the bar….I swear…no more randoms in my office Kelley!”

 

“Don’t worry HAO…….I don’t think there will be any more randoms..can’t say much about not using your office though.” Kelley burst out laughing at the horrified look HAO gave her.

 

 

 

Another 4 days had passed and Emily was ready to get home. She was meant to fly home the day before but there was an issue with the pilots so it had been moved to the next morning. So that’s where she was standing, in the middle of a clearing waiting for the pilot to do his pre take-off check on the helicopter. He had introduced himself briefly but then returned to looking at something where the engine was.

 

“Is there a problem Mark?” Mark wiped his hands on a rag, implying that his hands were dirty…they weren’t.

 

“No, things are fine. I just like to be thorough when I do these checks. Safety is no joke after all.” His attempt to sound stoic fell way short and Emily was really wishing the other pilot would appear out of no where and fly her back. 

 

“I haven’t seen you around town..or around in general. Are you from around here?” Emily was hoping some small talk would make her feel a little more comfortable getting in this machine with this stranger.

 

“I will be a local. I moved here around 3 weeks ago down from Salt Lake City.”

 

“Wow that’s quite a move. Do you have family down here?”

 

“No..I just needed a change of scenery.” Wow, Emily thought, big fucking change of scenery. 

 

“Cool, well, do you think we can head off soon? I know there was another storm front coming through this afternoon.”

 

“Oh don’t worry about that. I did the calculations earlier and we have like another 3 hours or so before it moves through here.” As much as Emily wanted to trust that him being qualified to fly a helicopter meant that he could understand the weather patterns, she just couldn’t quite be comfortable with it all.

 

 

 

Kelley had a few small jobs around town to keep her busy due to the fact that she wasn’t doing musters at the moment. Most of it was small repair jobs when she was called and at the moment she was being kept pretty busy. She was finishing up on her last job for the day when the lightening came over. The fact that she was standing on a metal roof made her shit her pants and she got down damn fast.

 

“Wow, that came through pretty quick. Mal, get your stuff together and put it in the truck. There is no point us staying here. This storm isn’t going anywhere soon. I’m just going to run over to Jimmy at the post and let him know where we got up to.”

 

Mal finished getting together the tools and put them under the canopy of the truck. She had been going along with Kelley to some of the bigger jobs to help get them done faster. Everyone considered her to be Kelley’s little side kick anyway.  She was standing there looking at the sky when Kelley came jogging back over.

 

“Man..it sure is dark over there. I think we are about to get smashed.”

 

 

 

When Emily woke up, the pain hit her. She had a dull thud going through her entire body but her right leg, that hurt more than she could ever have imagined. She tried to lift her head up, but moved it too quickly, causing a sharp pain to shoot behind her eyes. She scrunched her eyes shut and put her head back down gently again.  She could feel the cold glass underneath her cheek, she felt the stinging in her cheek from the shards digging into her skin. She was lying on her side against the door of the helicopter. Emily took a few moments to calm herself and try and remember how she got in to this position.

 

“ _Mark, do you think we should turn back? We are only 20 minutes in, but look at that sky. I thought we had a few more hours ahead of us?”_

 

_Mark looked a little uncomfortable, looking like he wanted to bail and be safe but being too cocky to allow anyone else to think he was scared._

 

_“I’m sure it’s fine. We haven’t been getting bumpy with shitty winds yet so it can’t be that bad.”_

 

_“So that’s how you are going to gauge it. Bumpy air. We are supposed to be avoiding danger, not flying into because its not too bad yet.”_

 

_“Listen lady..chill out. Everything will be fine, I will just fly around it a little, we might get the edge but it won’t be as bad as if we went straight in.”_

 

_“So now you are admitting that if we keep flying straight, we fly straight into that storm.”  Mark just rolled his eyes at Emily._

 

_“Lady..I’ve got this.We will be fine.”_

 

_“God dammit, my name is not ‘Lady’ and I’m pretty sure you don’t got this.”_

 

 

_Emily remembers flying for another 5 minutes before the air starting getting bumpy. The beeping started after they hit a massive air pocket._

 

_“Fuck.” Mark was trying to hold the controls steady but the cabin was too pitched. It was so steep that neither of them were able to move their hands to the radio. “Hold on…I can’t hold her any mo…”_

 

_That’s when Emily knew they had hit something. She thought it was the ground but it may have been a tree. What ever it was, it was enough force to cause Emily to black out._

 

 

 After a few deep breaths, Emily raised her head very gently to try and see around her. It looked extremely dark but she had no idea of telling the time. She hadn’t worn her watch and she doesn’t know how long she was unconscious for. 

 

With her head raised slightly, she could see that her leg was pinned under the chair on a really awkward angle. She slowly moved her head to look over at Mark and found him hanging buckled in his seat. Slowly reaching up to his hanging hand, Emily managed to reach up enough to take his wrist between her fingers and feel for a pulse. She sobbed out loud quickly in shock.

 

Hanging above her was a dead man. His face was bleeding badly and it looked like something had come through the window on an angle and hit him on the head. Anything could have happened, they fell so fast. Emily didn’t even know where they were, with Mark flying off course, how would anyone even know where they were.

 

 

 

 

Kelley was starting to feel antsy. She knew that if there was a problem, the flight would have been cancelled and changed to another day. She also knew that Emily hated flying enough that she would have just given them the finger and walked away until the day was right.

 

Seeing as the mobile phone reception was really sketchy where Emily was, Kelley rang the ranger. He was a friend of hers from way back and he had planned on dropping Emily off for her flight.

 

“Hey Tanner, when did they change the flight time to? They aren’t expecting this thing to pass over tonight are they?”

 

“What do you mean Kel? The chopper left hours ago.”  Kel sat there thinking for what seemed like hours, in fact it was mere seconds.

 

“Can’t have Tan. They would have been here by now.” As soon as those words left Kelley’s mouth she wanted to choke on the bile fighting to come up her throat.

 

“Yeah..they should be.” Kelley didn’t even respond, she just hung up on him.

 

“Fuck…fuck..shit………fuck.” She was pacing back and forth, feeling unsure of what she should do.

 

Mallory walked around the corner to where Kelley was standing. “Dude, what’s up?” Kelley didn’t respond, she hand her thumb nail in between her teeth and she was shaking her head as she was dialling the number for the local sheriff. That’s where they did all the search and rescue from. After 2 rings, the deputy answered the phone.

 

“Katie..has there been any SOS’s come through?

 

“Kelley what are you talking about?” Kelley felt like she just wanted to scream.

 

“Alarms, beeps, fucking signals to say there is someone in an emergency?”

 

“Okay, calm down…..there are no beeps or alarms going off. What is going on?”

 

“Fuck this…I’m coming down to the station. Emily should be here by now.” Kelley hung up again and grabbed her keys.

 

“Kelley..just stop. What is going on?” Mallory grabbed hold of Kelley’s wrist and spun her around. She was trying to piece the puzzle together but Kelley wasn’t really making sense.

 

“Emily….the chopper left. I rang Tanner. They left hours ago.” Kelley crouched down on the ground feeling like the wind had been knocked out of her. Mallory bent down and rubbed her back while she processed the information. Once she had a chance to consider all the words, she looked at Jessie who just walked in. Jessie could see the worry in her eyes and looked at Kelley who was trying to calm her breathing.

 

“Emily……”

 

 


	11. Sitting in the darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long. I went away to paradise.....but paradise doesn't have strong wifi.

Emily must have fallen asleep again but when she woke up, the rain was coming down possibly even harder than before. It wasn’t dark yet so she was still able to see a little bit around her. Where they ‘landed’ was pretty flat, which as much as Emily was happy she wasn’t hanging off a cliff, she also knew that this much water was going to be a problem if she was stuck where she was inside the helicopter. Or the outside elements in general for too long. 

 

Having the glass below her was painful, Emily had to find something to at least be a buffer if she was going to attempt to move at all. Her back pack was on the ground behind her, just within reach and that would be a perfect buffer from the glass. She angled her body around as much as she could without causing too much pain and grabbed the strap of the bag. Placing the bag on the window caused her to feel an immediate relief. The stinging on her skin was able to at least reduce a little bit.

 

With the bag in place, Emily began to shuffle herself forward, testing out her limits. Her limit, she discovered, pretty much included anything to do with her ankle and she also found her knee was pretty tender too. Fighting back the tears from pain, Emily tried to feel around what may have been keeping her ankle wedged below her. The seat was angled down a little bit, dislodged or bent from its metal brackets. Hoping that removing the weight from the seat would allow her to shuffle her ankle free, Emily very slowly shuffled herself forward, trying to put her weight more on the shell of the helicopter. 

 

“Argh…” Emily couldn’t help but let out a cry in pain. She wanted to stop so badly but she didn’t have the energy to support herself for too long. Emily lowered herself down so her back was resting more against the side frame, gently moving her leg as she went. Realizing that she wasn’t going to get any further, Emily stopped. At least she wasn’t in the position now to drown from having her face on there bottom of the helicopter. 

 

Slowly Emily’s body began to shake. She was beginning to realize even more now that she was in a pretty fucked up situation. With her good leg, she kicked at the dials of the helicopter. She was angry. The guy who put her in this situation was dead. She had no way of contacting any one. It was still raining outside and she was getting cold. Emily kicked again…. and cried.

 

 

 

 

“I don’t get it. How the hell does a helicopter disappear without a trace?” Kelley was loud. She was angry and frustrated. The Sheriff and deputy stood in front of her not knowing what to say.

 

“Kelley, try to calm down. We have been scanning the channels, there is no chatter. And for some reason, the beacon hasn’t gone off in the chopper. So at this point….” Frank the leader of the Search and Rescue team shrugged his shoulders, “We have nothing…Also the weather is too bad that I can’t send out another aircraft to look and I can’t send a ground crew out..not that they would even know where to go in the first place.”

 

Kelley was pacing back and forth. None of this information was what she wanted to hear. Not knowing if Emily was alive was breaking her heart. If Emily was alive, she probably needed help.

 

“Ummm….Frank…Something is beeping.” Jessie pointed to the machine on the wall which had previously been blank. Now, there was a single flashing light accompanied by a low pitched beep. Whatever it was, it definitely got Frank’s attention. He pushed himself away from the counter he was leaning on and moved over to the machine.

 

“Is that the beacon?” Kelley was right behind him.

 

“Well, its definitely a beacon of some sort.” Frank flicked a switch and a screen with a map came to life.  “If that’s the chopper, it’s way off course.” Frank grabbed a map of the local geographic area and rolled it out across the table.

 

“Do you think they would have tried to get around the storm?” Mal asked from the side of the room. She was wanting to get involved but knew she needed to give Kelley the space she needed.

 

“Maybe.  I know it wasn’t the same pilot as who took her out there,” Frank shrugged, “some family emergency. This guy has only been in the local area for a few weeks.”

 

“But that shouldn’t matter, if he knows how to fly, he should have gotten her home.” Kelley was trying to contain her anger as best she could.

 

“What I mean though Kel, is that he won’t know any of the areas to land safely in an emergency, if the helicopter was in a condition to land.” Kelley was basically glaring at him with that statement. 

 

“Honestly Frank, I don’t care. The chopper isn’t here, that’s the main problem right now. Can you show me on the map the location of the beacon?”

 

“Yes I can Kelley…but that doesn’t give you the license to go and do something stupid.” Kelley was just staring at Frank waiting, ignoring everything else he was saying. Frank grabbed a ruler and matched up the degrees on the map from what was on the computer. He made a cross on the map and then made a small circle around the cross.

 

Kelley was looking at the map very carefully, trying to picture the location in her mind. Mal stepped forward.

 

“That’s just below the peak. The valley runs through here,” Mal moved her hands over the map to show the valley. “and pretty much everything in this circle is shitty terrain. What exactly is this circle Frankie?”

 

“This is just my circle for calculation of error. I’m pretty sure the cross is where the beacon is but anything in this area is possible.” 

 

“Well the chopper was coming from over here, Roger’s ranch is there.” Kelley pointed to a small town nearby. ”So if there was error in the calculation, is it more likely that they would be on this side of the circle?” Frank ran his fingers over the map again, looking at the location of the ranch and the most likely crash position. He slowly began to knod his head.

 

“Yeah I would say so.” Kelley stood there looking at the map quietly for a few minutes. Frank was talking to one of his rescue colleagues. Mal went and stood beside Kelley.

 

“Talk to me Kel.” Mal spoke softly to Kelley.

 

“I’m going.” Kelley was very direct but didn’t take her eyes off the map for a second.

 

“Yeah I figured you would say that. The weather is very bad out there Kelley. Who know’s what it is like up in the mountains.”

 

“You said it your self, there in a valley. Too much water and it will flood. If they are alive…” Kelley closed her eyes for a second after saying that sentence. “then they drown. I’m going, Diego can make it.” Mallory looked at Jessie, Jessie looked back into her girlfriends eyes and then moved over to hug her, nodding against her chest.

 

“I’m going with you then.”

 

“Don’t even think about it Mal. It will be too dangerous for you out there.”

 

“Well if it’s too dangerous for me, then it’s too dangerous for you.” Mallory knew that nothing would stop Kelley from going.

 

“Mal, I’m not going to leave her out there to die….”

 

“I know that Kelley…and honestly I’m not going to try and stop you. I am going to go with you though.” Kelley looked at Mallory, considering her next move. 

 

“Fine…you can take Duncan. He will be able to keep up with Diego….and he can handle the mountains just the same.” Mal nodded along agreeing with Kelley. Frank walked over to the three women, looking like he was about to get his head bitten off but needed to say what he was going to say.

 

“I can’t let you go Kelley.” Kelley shrugged.

 

“I’m not asking you Frank.”

 

“It’s likely to be suicide in this weather.”

 

“I know this area probably better than anyone..probably better than you even. I ride these areas so often on musters. I get it…the weather is shit, but I’m not going to leave her out there.”

 

“Kelley, please, think about this.”

 

“There is nothing for me to think about Frank.” Kelley started walking towards the door.

 

“Kelley…… wait.”

 

“Frank, I’m going. Nothing you say is going to stop me.” Frank nodded and walked towards a metal locker.

 

“Yeah I get that.” He grabbed out a bag and threw it over to Kelley. “Take that.” Kelley unzipped the bag. There was a field first aid kit and a satellite phone. Kelley looked back at Frank and nodded.

 

"I’ll call you when we get to them.” Kelley walked out the door, into he rain.

 

 

Kelley, Mal and Jessie pulled back up to Kelley’s house and got out in a hurry. Jessie began to run in the direction of the stable. “I’ll go saddle up the horses. You guys get the stuff you need. Mal….don’t forget to pack food this time.” 

 

Mal gave Jessie a smart ass look and yelled after her “Whatever!!” as she ran away. 

 

“Okay Mal, we need to pack light but smart. We need food for 5 days times four people. We need 4 thermo blankets, and get my first aid kit. At least I know everything is there.” Mallory nodded and ran off to take what she could out of the pantry. Kelley always stored some dried food rations and plenty of canned food. 

 

Kelley ran into her bedroom gathering a few pairs of clean clothes for Emily and herself to change into. If they got really wet, they would need to get as dry as they could. Kelley was thinking that as soon as she reached them, all she needed to do was keep them safe until the storm cleared and they could be evacuated.

 

“Get some spare clothes to change into as well Mal. Make sure you seal them in your dry bag.” Kelley yelled form her room. Once she had gotten the clothes, Kelley went to check on the food stocks that Mal had lined up on the counter ready to pack. Kelley scanned over it, counting as she went.”

 

“Nice work Mal, I expect it to be right from now on if you can get this right in a hurry.” Mal rolled her eyes.

 

“Seriously guys.”

 

 

Within 20 minutes, Kelley was strapping their bags onto the horses. Mal and Jessie were hugging each other goodbye. Even though Jessie knew that Mal and Kelley were more than competent riders, the thought of them heading out in this weather and the terrain they were riding into, was more than enough to make her terrified.

 

“Be safe Kelley. I want you all home in one piece okay?” Kelley nodded, understanding Jessie’s request. They hadn’t really discussed the “What if’s Emily didn’t make it”. None of them really wanted to think that their friend or lover wouldn’t be coming home.

 

 

Kelley and Mal were riding through the rain. Kelley was confident in the direction they needed to go. She had her own GPS with the positioning marked to help as they got closer. The ground was pretty sloshy already but the two giant stallions were doing well to handle the conditions.

 

“How long do you think it will take for us to get there Kel?”

 

“It really depends on what the ground is like Mal. We’re going to be riding into the night as well. It’s already getting darker. All that means is we will need to slow down a bit. Probably wouldn’t hurt to put our head torches on now though. At least we don’t have to worry about 50 head of cattle to loose.”

 

“I take it you have a good idea where they are?”

 

“Not a clue.” Mal looked at Kel shaking her head side to side. 

 

“I don’t know how I still get fooled by your confidence. I should have known you were trying to sound all okay in front of Frank.”

 

“There are just too many variables Mal. That pilot should never have taken off. Even if the storm came through faster than expected…..it just sounds like a dick move.”

 

 

Oddly the rain suddenly slowed to a light drizzle. It was almost like the heavens were giving them a small reprieve. Kelley put he hand up in a stop action, Mal stopping immediately.

 

“What’s wrong Kelley?” Kelley was quiet for a moment.”

 

“Fuck!! Can you hear it Mal?” Mal tried really hard to hear was Kelley was listening to. “The river is up already. That came up a shit load faster than I had hoped.” They rode carefully through the thick bushes until they came out into the clearing. Just before them was a fast flowing river, thankfully only about 4 meters wide.

 

“Meh…could be worse.” Mal laughed, Kelley shaking her head.

 

“You are crazy..you know that right?” 

 

“4 meters is better than 10 meters..” Mal smirked. The horses reluctantly walked up to the edge, but Kelley pulled on Diego’s reigns and turned him around. Kelley took in the length of the river that they could see and then pointed. 

 

“Up there. There is a small lull in the current. Might be some extra footing for the boys to stand on.”

Kelley went first to make sure she could give Mal some guidance if need be. She would never let Mal go first in any of this. They were here because of her (some dick pilot) and Mal would never think twice about it. 

 

As soon as they got over the small river, they kept on to try and make as much ground while the rain was light.

 

 

 

Emily woke up from a nap again, most likely because she was feeling so cold. The rain was a lot lighter but that just made the air become a bit cooler. She really wanted to move away from the glass because that was adding to her coldness so she attempted to move her ankle again. 

 

She let out a big groan and and yelled in frustration. Her ankle was so swollen now she actually couldn’t move it at all. She couldn’t rotate it and any of the gap she felt before was now just taken up by a swollen foot. She had nothing within reach to keep her warm and decided to just close her eyes again. It was dark, she was cold and in pain. What was the point of staying awake. 

 

When she closed her eyes, of course the first thing she sees is Kelley. Kelley’s smile, Kelley’s eyes. They hadn’t known each other long but she knew what they had was real. It was hard to think that she would never see Kelley again. It made her chest hurt.

 

 

 

 

Kelley and Mal had been riding for a few hours now. It was pitch black because there were no stars or moon with the cloud cover so the only light they had was from the head torches. The horses had just made it to the top of a ridge so Kelley stopped them to look at the GPS. She passed the satellite phone over to Mal.

 

“Can you check in with Frank for us please?”  Mal rolled her eyes but took the phone and started dialing in to the base.

 

“Hey Frankie boy…….yep……….yep………..ahuh………wet…….k-bye.”

 

“Well that was an intriguing conversation.”

 

“I figured if I kept it simple..he wouldn’t keep talking…we don’t have time. So…..which way?”

 

Kelley pointed ahead, but slightly to the left. “We’re going to have to head down the ridge this way though. I know that side is just complete rock face.”

 

Kelley started to take off quickly, moving through the trees. “I’m hoping we are only a mile out.”

 

“Cool, cause Frank just said there is another storm coming through!”


	12. It's just so wet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All, thank you so much for all the comments and Kudos and taking the time to read my story. I hope you like this chapter.

The next mile for them was the hardest. The rain was coming down now in what seemed like a wall of water. Seeing in front of them was an issue which made them slow down because they didn’t want to accidentally fall off a cliff.

 

The temperature was dipping too. Their long riding jackets were doing an amazing job of keeping them dry but that didn’t stop their faces from feeling the affects. 

 

Kelley was very focused, ensuring to lead the safest way possible. Mal was oddly quiet.

 

“Mal..you’re too quiet. Are you okay?”

 

“Yep.” Kelley wasn’t expecting an answer so short, which only meant there was definitely something wrong with her.

 

“Mal..what’s going on? You’re never quiet…when you’re quiet…there is something wrong..So tell me. What’s going on in your head?”

 

Mal was quiet for a few minutes. Kelley gave her the space to think about what she wanted to say.

 

“Kelley..I’m scared….for you.” Kelley’s eyebrows went up in surprise, then settled once understanding came over her. “W-What if she didn’t make it?”

 

Kelley in turn, was just as quiet. Mallory could tell she was seriously thinking of the answer she needed to give. She then began shaking her head, however Mal could actually see the tears slowly falling down her cheeks.

 

“At the moment Mal, all I can think about is getting us safely to the crash site. Then…I……I can’t think of what happens next.” Kelley looked away for a second. She stopped Diego and they stood still in the rain for a moment. “I know I’m falling in love with her….everyday a little more. She makes me want to do better..be better…She makes me laugh….and I feel..I feel it in here.” Kelley touched her chest. She started Diego moving again, Duncan obediently walked beside him. 

 

They continued on, Mal nodding, remaining silent, Kelley leading the way, silently nibbling on her bottom lip. 

 

“Oh…Fuck me!!” Mal stopped her stallion quickly, looking ahead into the rain. Kelley followed her line of sight and felt the blood rush out of her head.

 

Ahead of them was a cliff face. Over that cliff face was a tree….reaching side to side. Under that tree was a 20 foot drop into a valley. Running through that valley was a violent current. They both probably sat there in silence for a good 5 minutes. The GPS indicated that the location they wanted was directly ahead…maybe 200 meters. But the cliff face ran a good distance and if they followed that to eventually maybe find a way lower to cross, it would add too much time and could always be a bust if there was a flood anyway.

 

Mal got off her horse and walked over to the tree carefully. She wasn’t wanting to cause any mud to break away. The tree was sitting over both sides of the cliff face quite solidly. The distance was about 6-8 meters.

 

“FUCKKKK” Kelley yelled out into the sky. “Why can’t we just catch a fucking break?” Mal was looking at Kelley standing stiff like a post but with her head kinked back, lazily looking into the sky…yelling. “Have I been such a devil child that you need to put this fucking barrier in front of me when it’s already fucking hard enough.”

 

Mal walked a little closer to the tree, allowing Kelley her breakdown space.

 

“Yo, Drama queen, come and check this out.”

 

“I swear to god Mallory…if you are trying to show me a fucking bug I’m going to….cockblock you for the next 6 months.” Mal just looked at Kelley like she was surprised that she would even stoop that low. 

 

“That tree looks pretty steady hey..”

 

“Are you fucking insane Mallory? That might as well be a branch hanging over that gap.”

 

They were quiet for about 5 minutes.

 

“So…we gonna do it ay?” Kelley bit her lip a little, shimmying over to the edge and dramatically glaring over to the water below.

 

“Yep.” Kelley said yes but was shaking her head side to side like it was a big no.”We’re going have to leave the horses here. Lets take their saddles off so they don’t get weighed down. We’ll have to put those bags on our backs to get them over.”

 

They started to unstrap the saddle bags, taking 2 bags each, trying to even out the weights. They removed the saddles and placed them under a tree. Hoping to be able to retrieve them afterwards. The horses would be safe enough, they would just roam around or find themselves some shelter.  Each of the girls helped to tighten the leather straps down to keep the bags as close to their bodies as possible. 

 

Kelley strapped the rifle to her back, under the bag. She would prefer to leave it behind but being out here amongst all the wildlife looking for food and shelter, it was a definite requirement.

 

“I’m going to go over first and make sure it’s safe.”

 

“You don’t have to do that Kelley. I can go first.” Kelley was shaking her head.

 

“No…I’m going first in case it breaks.”

 

“Well, that sort of sucks..” Kelley looked at Mallory a little confused. “You have the gun and also most of the food. If you fall, I might get attacked by wild animals..or I’ll starve.” Kelley just looked at Mal in shock.

 

“You little fucker.” Kelley’s mouth was still open in shock as she walked over towards the tree.

 

Mal walked over and stood beside her, hands on hips, looking at the log intensely. 

 

“What do you think is the best way? I don’t think it will be as easy as the movies and just a short walk with my arms out for balance.”

 

“No I think we are going to have to lie down and shimmy over, in like a reach and crawl fashion.” Kelley was showing how to do it in the air. The 2 girls stood there for a second looking at each other. Kelley then reached out suddenly and pulled Mal in for a hug.

 

“You’re my best friend Mal. Thank you for always standing by my side. And never backing down..even in ridiculous circumstances.” Mal didn’t say anything, just held Kelley tight. When Kelley loosened her grip and let Mal stand back, Mal grabbed Kelley’s shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.

 

“You’re like a sister to me Kelley. I will always be here for you.” Mal squeezed Kelley’s shoulder before stepping back and angling towards the tree.  Kelley moved over towards the base and slowly climbed so she was straddling the wood.

 

“I feel like I’m Cher sitting on a Canon.” Mal just looked at Kelley with the most confused face.

 

“God I am not that old that you…oh never mind.”

 

Kelley moved her focus to the tree that was laying in front of her that she was now sitting on. Slowly she moved forward. And again…..And again….And Again..Kelley was doing really well and when she struggled a bit more in the wind and rain, she would lay down so her chest was over the tree and pull herself forward that way.

 

It took Kelley a good 5 minutes to pull herself over to the other side. She threw the bags down and jumped in the air. Making her way over meant they were one step closer to getting to Emily. 

 

“Ok Mal..your turn…just take it slow so you keep your balance.”

 

Mallory was nodding to her self, clearly egging herself on to climb a tree hanging dangerously over a valley full of raging water. 

 

Once on the log, it took her a little longer for Mallory to make her way over, obviously a little more rattled by it than Kelley was.

 

The noise of the water below and the continuing rain made it impossible for Mallory to hear the noises the Tree was making. She was probably around 2 meters out when she heard the first crack. She wanted to scream so loud but knew Kelley would start freaking. Slowly, Mal started to loosen one of the leather bags from her bag.

 

“What are you doing you dick?” Mal didn’t answer Kelley, just threw the back pack as hard as she could so it would land in the mud on Kelley’s side.

 

“Are you trying to lighten the load there. That’s actually pretty smart but I don’t know if its super urgent Mal.” Mal began loosening the other bag, eventually deciding to tell Kelley.

 

“So Kel…the log is starting to crack.”

 

“Wh..what are you talking about? It felt perfectly fine.”

 

“Well unfortunately that crack that just happened as I crawled over it doesn’t agree. So just take the bags incase I fall.” Kelley’s eyes widened in horror as the second bag was in the air as everything seemed to slow down in super slow motion.

 

While the bag was in the air, the log snapped like a roof with too much water on it. It was an immediate, sudden movement. So in slow motion, Kelley could see Mal begin to drop through the log, her hands in the air from throwing the bag. Mallory reached out like she was clawing to hold onto something so she wouldn’t fall..but she couldn’t grip anything. Automatically, Kelley lunged forward, both her hands reaching out to Mal.

 

Mallory had pushed off the log to take the last gap in a lunge so that helped to bring her closer to the edge. With her hands flailing in the air, she somehow managed to be close enough for Kelley to grab her forearm, in bear grip. As they locked grips and Mallory made an ‘oof’ noise as her body it the edge harshly. It was also followed with a high pitched scream from Mal, indicating to Kelley that she was in pain.

 

“My god, Mal, hold on, hold on a tight as you can.” Kelley was laying on her stomach in the mud, her top half hanging over the edge looking down into the raging water. Realizing she was slipping, Kelley dug both the toes of her boots into the ground as harshly as she could to create an anchor. Luckily the ground felt like clay so it was actually holding her.

 

“Hold my other arm Kelley, I need you to let this one go.” Instantly without explanation, they grabbed a strong grip of the opposite arm but Kelley found that Mallory’s grip was stronger.

As Kelley let go of the opposite arm, Mal made another painfully whine and dropped the arm straight down.

 

“What’s wrong with your arm Mal?”

 

“It popped out when I hit the edge. It hurts so fucking much.” Kelley winced at the thought of Mal having to hold on while experiencing so much pain.

 

“Okay, well….let’s get you up then so I can pop it back in.”

 

“Kel, I love your optimism but I don’t think this is going to finish in a happy ending.”

 

“Like fuck it isn’t. I’m not letting you go.”

 

“Kel….if you keep holding me…we both drop. Then who is going to save Emily.” Kelley was quiet for a moment thinking. 

 

‘Listen to me Mal..My feet are dug in for the moment. I’m going to lean back and anchor my other arm and slowly pull you up.”

 

“I’m too heavy, you won’t be able to ..” Kelley cut her off.

 

“Mal..stop talking and listen to me….I’m not letting you go…I never will..”  Kelley looked Mal in the eyes as she said this, finally making Mal realize that Kelley was going to hold her..no matter the result. Slowly Kelley started pulling Mallory up. 

 

Mallory felt helpless, with one bad arm and nothing but mud and water all around her, there was nothing she could do to help Kelley lift her up. Kelley lifted Mal about a foot, and with that, she planted her body back another foot. Again, she planted her hand in the clay mud and pulled on her other arm, bring Mal up another foot. She followed the same process another 2 times, needing to give herself a little rest before the last final movement. As she locked her arms gain to pull Mal little higher, she felt the ground under her feet start to give way. Too much water was building around her now. 

 

All she could think was she needed to make one final move to get Mallory up with her. Kelley took her hand out of the mud and reached over, grabbing the waistband of Mal’s jeans, taking the extra weight further below. 

 

In one final pull, Mallory was up rolling over the edge, landing beside Kelley. Kelley instantly grabbed hold of Mal in a tight bear hug on the ground, almost like she was afraid Mallory would roll back off again. Kelley was silently sobbing into Mallory’s side though, the relief washing over her.

 

It was probably 5 minutes before either of them moved. As Mallory went to sit up the pain shot through her body.

 

“Oh shit..it hurts.” Kelley shot up in a flash.

 

“Where does it hurt?”

 

“My shoulder, it’s still out.” Kelley pulled herself off the ground and moved behind Mallory, bringing her body upright carefully. Kelley felt over the top both Mallory’s shoulders, slowly dragging her fingers down the centre of Mallorys back.

 

“Okay, I think I can pop it and reset it Mal..we can then put it in a sling and hold it in place for a while.”

 

“Okay, just do it…It fuckin’ hurts……” Mal was looking at Kelley with pleading eyes. Kelley nodded and stood up, moving the bags behind Mallory’s back to try and give some extra support.  Kelley stood at Mal’s side, slowly lifting Mallorys’ arm with her left hand, her right hand sitting on top of her shoulder feeling the area gently.

 

“Alright, I’m going to do this as quickly as I can, I’m not gonna lie, it might hurt like hell.”

 

“Just do it…..”

“So Mal..when are you going to make that girl your wife?” 

 

“WHAT??” Pop……. “ARGHHH, my..damn..bloody..shit…That’s… ouch.” Kelley held onto Mallory’s arm, moving it gently on an angle against her chest.

 

“I said it might……”

 

“Hurt….yeah, you mentioned that. God damn it.”

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“I’m fine, you popped it back in.”

 

“No Mal…Are you okay? What just happened was real. You could have died.”

 

“You had me.” Mal was quiet. Not really looking at Kelley.

 

“Mal…You know I would do anything for you….I’m so sorry I caved and let you come on this…trip? If you want to call it that….Honestly, I should have said no and I will never forgive myself for putting you in danger.” Mallory slowly began to shake her head side to side, a frown on her face.

 

“Are you for real Kelley? If you had come by yourself, this would have been a death sentence for sure. I came because I wanted to help and I couldn’t have handled being at home, knowing you were out here.”

 

“Thank you.” Mallory looked confused.

 

“What for?”

 

“Always having my back.” Kelley sat there beside Mallory, nodding her head gently but with her eyes cast down. The rain fell around them, just not wanting to give them any respite. “Do you want to call Jessie?” Mallory looked up, tears building up in her eyes, but her refusing to let them fall.

 

“Yeah, it would be really nice to hear her voice right now.”

 

The girls had moved their bags over to sit under a tree for a little bit of cover. They had been moving all night and after what just happened, they could use another 10 minutes to gather themselves again. They weren’t giving themselves enough time to heat up food, but sitting to have a power bar would be a good idea. Kelley wanted Mal to have some pain killers for her shoulder anyway and the food would be best for her stomach. Mallory wan’t concerned in moving away for privacy and Kelley didn’t find it awkward. The phone didn’t ring long, almost like Jessie was sitting by her phone just waiting for this call.

 

“Hey babe.”

 

“Oh my god Mal. How are you? Are you okay? Have you found Emily yet?”

 

“Um..no we haven’t gotten to the crash site yet. We just thought we would give ourselves a break for a few minutes.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“W-What do you mean?” Mallory stuttered, trying to keep her tone even.

 

“You and Kelley..just don’t have ‘a rest’. You stop when you have to for a reason like someone is hurt. So tell me..which one of you is hurt?”

 

“Hey now..I can’t help but be a little offended that you thi..” She didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence.

 

“Mallory. Which one of you is hurt?” There was no point trying to keep it from her girlfriend any longer.

 

“Um..me..I am.” Mal could hear the sigh in the back ground. Kelley also chuckling softly on her end.

 

“Are you okay?” 

 

“Oh yeah..I’m fine.”

 

“What did you hurt?” 

 

“My shoulder.”

 

“How did you hurt it?”

 

“I fell off a log.”

 

“Wh-You fell off a log? How the hell did you fall off a log…and how high were you to hurt yourself?” Mallory scrunched up her nose and cheeks, how much did she want to tell her?

 

“It wasn’t that high really, it’s just slippery.” Kelley coughed in the back round at that comment, Mal shot her daggers hoping that Jessie didn’t hear her in the background.

 

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

 

“Yeah..I just wanted to hear your voice and tell you we were okay….I should probably go though. I need to eat some food and get going again.”

 

“Okay, thank you for calling me…I still don’t believe you are telling me everything…but..just be careful okay. And tell Kelley that too.”

 

“Okay… I love you Jessie.”  Mallory was biting her bottom lip as she finished off the phone call with her girlfriend.

 

“I love you too Mal.” The phone call went dead and Mallory took a deep breath.

 

 

Kelley gave Mallory the painkillers to take and they finished off their snacks. Kelley pulled out the GPS, attaching it to her waist seeing as they seemed so close. They loaded up the bags, Kelley somehow managing to carry 3 bags to Mallory’s one. She actually hoisted one above her head and rested it there. They were definitely walking slower than Kelley would have liked but she knew that Mallory was in a fair bit of pain so she didn’t want to push her too quickly. It was another 10 minutes of walking before they walked through some thick brush, coming upon some small trees that had had their tops snapped off. The girls looked at each other hopeful, Kelley steering Mallory off to the right slightly. They were in the vicinity of the mark on the GPS, just a little off to the East.

 

“Move through there Mal.” Kelley pointed for a space in the trees to move through.  They walked another 10 meters, visibility was zero in the rain at the moment. Mal nudged Kelley in her side, the bag and painful shoulder stopping her from outright grabbing Kelley and forcing her head in the direction to see. Kelley let out a gasp.

 

“Oh my god…..there’s the helicopter.”


	13. Still lots of water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for the Kudos and the comments. I'm surprised at myself for the cliffhangers...honestly, I can't handle reading angst either. I appreciate you all taking the time to stop and read my story. Have a safe Easter everyone!!

Emily felt like she was in a daze. She knew it was a mixture of her body temperature dropping and the shock setting in. She also knew there was no way that she was able to get out of the position she was in, considering her ankle was stuck and she honestly just wanted it to be over quickly if it was the end. She had so many emotions going through her mind…anger..sadness..frustration….and loss. She felt the loss of Kelley. Because ultimately she feels like her dying is losing the opportunity to be with the love of her life. Yes..she’d had some time to think.

 

The vibration from her shivering was annoying her. Everything was beginning to annoy her but vibrating against the glass was plain annoying. She had been creating this little tap, tap, tap from a button on her pant leg. It had been going on for what seemed like hours and she wanted to rip that button off and throw it to hell, unfortunately she just didn’t have the energy.

 

She knew it was still raining heavily, the consistent sound of the rain falling would normally be relaxing when your sleeping, however today her feelings towards rain had changed forever.

 

She knew she was starting to lose it completely when she felt her body rocking side to side. It felt like her body equilibrium was finally gone. Wait..is that a sign of shock??

 

She had this warm feeling burning against her cheeks. It would normally create goose bumps, but today it just felt really hot. A sudden feeling of warmth then wrapped around her body and it felt so good. Emily figured that if she was losing it, at least it felt good along the way. What was really messing with her brain was the soft little touches all over her face and the warm wind in her ear.

 

The warm presence that was surrounding her was feeling too real, she needed to open her eyes. The last thing she wanted was a bear sitting on her face, slowly suffocating her.

 

 

 

Kelley dropped the bags she was carrying and ran towards the helicopter. The mud was making her boots feel really heavy and the water laying around was only making it harder. The helicopter was sitting in a clearing thankfully, which meant no chance of rock falls around it. Obviously that meant the crash landing was also more successful with not running into trees or rock faces. 

 

Kelley reached the helicopter and could see Emily leaning against the window. She looked very pale and sitting in an awkward twisted position. Mal didn’t reach the helicopter as fast with the way her shoulder was feeling.

 

“Is she alive?” Mal yelled out from behind. Kelley had her hands up on the window, moving around, trying to see if Emily was breathing.

 

“It’s so hard to see but I think she is.” Kelley looked up to the pilot who was hanging in his seat. “He certainly isn’t….I need to get in.”

 

Kelley started moving around the helicopter looking for a way in. She was just going to have to climb up to the door where the pilot was and move in over him. Touching a dead person didn’t sound too great but she needed to get to Emily fast.

 

“You gotta be careful Kel. You don’t want to cause him to fall on her. He could cause something to break, or with the dead weight and her being so vulnerable, maybe even kill her.” Kelley stood there nodding, thinking for a moment.

 

“Yeah..you’re right.” Kelley moved back around to the front of the window and looked up into the seat the pilot was in. “Look, his buckle is still completely locked. If he hasn’t fallen yet, that’s a good thing. I’m just going to have to put my foot on the panels and go in feet first, climb over the back of the other seat.” Mal looked up and nodded, agreeing with the path her friend spoke of, both needing to keep level head to get to Emily safely.

 

 

“Yeah it's definitely not ideal but we will make it work.” Kelley gently patted Mal’s good shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. Kelley was exploding on the inside and was doing her best to stay calm and keep it together. She couldn’t afford to get over excited and do something stupid to put Emily in further danger.

 

Kelley took off her riding jacket and felt the instant chill in the air. She would get cold quickly but wouldn’t be able to maneuver inside the small space with it on. She found a few foot holds to get some grip and started climbing. It was really slippery but she had enough skill to find her self sitting at the pilots door. She closed her eyes and prayed silently when she attempted to unlatch the door. To her complete surprise, the door opened with relative ease. She gently put her feet on the panel in front of the dead pilot and lowered herself, along with the door to keep the rain out while she tended to Emily.

 

Once she got clear of the pilot, she stepped down just behind the chair that held Emily captive. Gently kneeling down and working her way to sit beside Emily. 

 

Finally having Emily within reach, she really just wanted to hold her and never let go but Kelley knew she needed to get Emily out and warm somewhere. She gently placed 2 fingers on Emily’s neck to feel for a pulse. Finally, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. She could feel the slow thud but it was a lot lighter than she has felt in the past. Emily’s skin also felt really cold. She had been exposed to the cold air for too long.

 

Kelley gently brushed her thumb over Emily’s cheek and then proceeded to place gentle little kisses over her lips, nose and forehead. Kelley felt Emily move her head a little which excited Kelley to no end. Having Emily respond to those sensations was a great sign.

 

“Hey Doc.” Kelley thought she would gently try an rouse her. They had to get her out fast so they could get her warm. “Babe..hey baby wake up…I’m so sorry it took me so long to get here. Please wake up.” Kelley looked up at Mal, her friend looking in hoping to see Emily wake up too.

 

“C’mon baby, wake up. I need to get you warm.” Kelley gasped when she heard a little moan come from the body next to her. Kelley leaned in and wrapped Emily in a hug, trying to warm her and wanting to be close to her as well.  Kelley softly whispered in her ear while she sat so close to Emily.

 

“C’mon beautiful..I know you can do it…I need you to open those eyes and look at me. We have to get you out of here.” Kelley stayed leaning in but could fell the pulse quicken against her own skin laying so close against Emily’s. 

 

“Kel…”. There it was. A raspy voice trying to wake up. Kelley moved back to be able to look over Emily. Watching to see if she was really awake.  Emily moved her head slightly and then one of her eyes opened just a crack. “You found me”

 

“Oh my god…Em..I would never have stopped looking for you.… But you’ve gotta wake up right now so we can get you out of here.” Emily was starting to get her bearings a little more but still looked extremely groggy.

 

“That would be nice but I’m stuck.”

 

“What do you mean babe?”

 

“My ankle. I think it’s crushed. It hurts so much…well, it did. I’m pretty sure it will hurt again when I try and move it and the blood flows.” Kelley moved back to try and see what Emily was talking about. “The chair, I think it moved off it’s brackets and now I can’t get my leg out.”

 

Kelley moved around a little more to look around the chair. She could see that it was off the bracket rails and was wedged under a piece of metal, the other bracket becoming stuck.

 

“I need something strong to wedge under there just to lift it long enough to move your foot.”

“Mal…we need a bar or something. I need to lift this.”

 

“Wait Mal’s here?” Emily angled her head a little to look around. Mal gave her a little wave with her good arm. “Wait..what did you do to your arm?”

 

“I dislocated it. It’s okay..really. Kelley re-set it for me.”

 

“How did you do that?”

 

“What, dislocate it?” Emily used as much energy as she could to show Mal that she was rolling her eyes at her comment.

 

“Yes…Mallory…how did you dislocate your shoulder?” Emily spoke slowly to prove her point. Kelley smiled, happy to see her girlfriend hadn’t lost her sass.

 

“Umm, long story…but when I fell, Kelley caught me and she is just too strong and nearly pulled my arm off.”  Kelley sat there shaking her head. 

 

“Mallory…focus please. I need something, what do we have?”

 

“The only thing we have that is hard is the rifle..I would however suggest having a look in the back of that machine and see if there is possibly something else you can use.”

 

Kelley looked at Mal with a lot of surprise and acknowledgment. “That’s actually a good idea.”

 

Kelley gave Emily a kiss on the tip of her nose and then crawled into the back of the helicopter.

After a couple of minutes, she made her way back to the front with a long metal bar. “I don’t know what this is but I don’t think it is needed anymore.”

 

Mallory was standing close to he glass so she could hear everything properly. The ran was still coming down in a wall of water and everything around them was just mush. “Yeah that looks good. But wait…slow down a sec. Once you move the chair, we need to get her out. So I think..we need to break this windscreen first. If you break it from the inside, it will smash out this way. It shouldn’t shatter anyway, more break away considering the type of glass it is.”

 

“Yeah okay. There isn’t much else to use in here so I’m just going to have to try and kick it out.”

 

“That’s what I tried to do….well actually, I just kicked the window in frustration but it didn’t budge. All I managed to do was break something on the panels.” Emily was becoming more alert now although still very pale.

 

“Nah Em…” Kelley said in realization, “what you did do, was set of the rescue beacon. It helped us find you.” Kelley brushed her palm over Emily’s check with a look of concern. “Mal..as soon as we move this window, I need one of those emergency blankets. Then I will lift the chair, we can get her ankle out and then splint it.”

 

“Where are we going to go?” The discussion of some where to stay over the next few days hadn’t come up because they didn’t know where they needed to find shelter.

 

“Let’s worry about that once we have her warmer and free from the chair.”

 

Kelley found a cleanish towel in the mess behind the seats, “Here put this over your face, there is enough evidence in here to show the glass could shatter.”  Kelley helped place the towel over as much of Emily’s body as she could protect.

 

Kelley sat down and put her feet up against the windscreen of the helicopter. She started from the base of the window and made a small kick with her feet. She needed to feel out what she was working with. It definitely didn’t feel like thick glass so when she took her next kick, she went a lot harder. With a good sized kick, she was a little surprised that she felt some movement at the seal. She moved her feet a little to work in that same spot. Kelley gave another 2 good kicks and then Mal was able to help her by holding out the gap until Kelley stood up and was able to use her body weight to push it the rest of the way. 

 

Mal instantly came in a gave Emily a hug, so relieved to be able to see her friend again, although they both weren’t in the best condition.  Emily murmured out from over Mal’s hug, “I know there is a story to this injured shoulder and I get a feeling that Jessie is totally going to kick your ass…both of you.” Kelley smirked form the side.

 

Once Mallory stood up she went to one of the bags and grabbed the first aid kit and one of the blankets. It would take a while for Emily’s body temperature to start to rise but at least this way they wouldn’t have to rush in trying to move her. 

 

Moving Emily’s ankle was not going to be easy and it would hurt Emily a lot, but it needed to be done.  Kelley made sure they had everything they needed first to splint it and then she got to work  trying to move the chair. Mal was the one to help move Emily’s ankle once the chair gave them enough space and she was a little nervous to do it with one hand.

 

Kelley angled the bar and got enough movement from the chair in one go, not wanting to cause her girlfriend more pain than she needed to. The cry of pain that came from Emily broke her heart. Mal had moved her leg as gently and as quickly as she could. To be honest, it looked horrible. It was swollen, bruised and didn’t look like an ankle anymore. They had to splint it immediately and the concerning thing was they didn’t know the damage and they didn’t know how long they would have to wait to be rescued.

 

Emily was laying her head back again the helicopter frame sobbing. She could’t describe the pain that was shooting through her body. She just didn’t have the energy to process it. She could hear Kelley in the back ground but couldn’t process her thoughts through the pain she was feeling.

 

“Wait Mal, the field kit, it might be good for something….can you check to see if it has the inhaler in it? A few hits of the Penthrox and it should take the bite out of the pain, at least while I splint her ankle and move her.” Mal sifted through the bag and held up her hand like she was a winner in a raffle.

 

“Man, why didn’t I get one of these?” Kelley scoffed.

 

“Because you had your shoulder dislocated, not crushed…Plus I couldn’t carry you and the bags.”

 

Kelley held the inhaler at Emily’s lips and got her to take a deep breath. It didn’t take much time for Emily to put her head back and close her eyes in relief. It wouldn’t be long standing but at least she had it there when the wave of pain returned.

 

Kelley strapped Emily’s ankle, securing the bush splint and then moved around to give her a hug. She wanted to keep Emily in her arms forever now that she had her back. Mal had moved behind the chair, surprised by how much room there actually was. In this helicopter, it had space for 2 chairs at the back but they weren’t currently there, which was a little odd. 

 

Mal had handed Kelley the Satellite phone to call in their location to Frank. He sounded relieved just to even hear their voices.

 

“Frank, we have found the helicopter, Emily is injured but we have that under control for the moment. The pilot however, isn’t so lucky.”

 

“He’s dead?” Kelley looked up to the pilot.

 

“Yeah, it looks like he was hit by something in the head so it must have been the impact of that.”

 

“Okay, you will have to leave him where he is. Once we are able to get you 3 out, we can retrieve his body. In the meantime we can notify his family. Can you look at you GPS and tell me the actual   co-ordinates?”

 

Kelley relayed the degrees of their location to Frank and heard him rummaging through paper in the back ground.

 

“Okay, so as I don’t know when we will be able to get the rescue team out to you we need to get you into some shelter.  There is actually an old cottage about half a mile away. Do you think you can make it?”

 

“Shit…I’m both excited and terrified. It’ll be warm but also, that’s far and I’ve got 2 injured people here.”

 

“What happened to Mal?” Frank had immediate concern in his voice.

 

“It’s a long story but she dislocated her shoulder. I guess I will have to take the most import bags with us and I will come back for the other one in the morning when it’s safer.”

 

It was very early in the morning by this point and all of the girls looked exhausted. Kelley was condensing what she could into 2 bags. Food, Clothes, first aid. She would come back in the morning for the remainder of the food and anything else. She handed the bag with the clothes and first aid to Mal as it was lighter for her with one arm and Kelley put the food bag over her shoulders and strapped down the rifle. 

 

Kelley folded the blanket away that Emily was using, and grabbed her by the waist, lifting her gently. Emily threw her arms around Kelley and hugged her like the world was ending and it would the last time they would hold each other. Kelley could hear the soft crying from Emily.

 

“Shhh…hey Em…it’s okay. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let you go either……but I need you to put as much weight on me as you can so I can help you.”

 

“Move to her other side Kel, I can take some of her weight too.” Kelley looked at her skeptically. “It’s too far for you to do it alone and I’m gonna take some more pills when I get to the cabin anyway. My shoulders fucked, hopefully I will pass out for a while…so lets go.”

 

The girls moved around to get as comfortable as they could and set out for the Cabin, leaving behind the helicopter. As cold as Kelley was, she felt this warmth in her body, like a wave of relief. She had found the woman that she was falling in love with alive…and she had her best friend, injured but alive with her.

 

Kelley leant over and gave Emily a kiss on the cheek, still concerned with how cold her skin felt, but relieved to have the opportunity to kiss her again.

 

“So,” Emily whispered, “Who is going to tell me what happened on the way here?” Kelley winced at thinking about how close she was to losing her best friend. Mal chuckled, knowing that their daring adventures would get them in trouble with both of their girlfriends.

 

“Well….”


	14. It's all the feels

Seeing that Cabin in front of them, made the 3 of them want to cry. They were tired, cold, hungry and in pain. Emily had been slowly puffing on the inhaler, so as not to take away her ability to hobble, but at least take off the edge.

 

Mal was starting to look a little pale. It seems her painkillers were starting to wear off but she didn’t want to complain, considering there was someone there with a crushed ankle. 

 

Kelley was just looking exhausted. It had been a long night and she had definitely gone through a whole range of emotions. She also felt sick knowing that Emily was in so much pain.

 

They made their way onto the verandah and out of the rain.

 

“I actually don’t think I ever want to feel a droplet of rain again in my life.” Mal let the bag drop from her good shoulder and tried to stretch, albeit with a grimace.

 

Kelley moved Emily to stand beside the verandah railing and ensured she could hang on and stand up herself before Kelley let her go. The screen door and front door opened without a hassle, seemingly always remaining unlocked. It didn’t have power but there was dry fire wood sitting by the wall on the verandah and a few oil lanterns placed around the cabin. There was a double bed up the back with linen and thick blankets and a fold out stretcher set up just behind the living area. The space was completely open but that would make the heat move through the place easier. 

 

Kelley lit one of the oil lanterns so she could get everyone settled inside while she lit the fire. Before she wrapped Emily in the blanket, she unbutton her shirt and pants and took off the soaked apparel.  She laid Emily on the double bed and put some big blankets on top of her while Mal sat on the sofa after struggling with taking her riding jacket off. Mal was mostly dry as she hadn’t taken her jacket off once but she would need to be in warmer clothes too. But for the moment, Kelley made sure there was a big blanket around Mal’s shoulders rather than have her body temp go down too.

 

Once the fire place was lit, the cabin was flickering in a gentle light. It was enough to easily move around the cabin with, so she turned off the oil lantern to conserve the oil.

 

Now Kelley needed to play nurse to both of the women. Emily was still shivering but was covered by the blankets. Mallory needed food quickly for her medication and then she needed to get comfortable and sleep. Kelley decided that Mal would be the quick fix even though all she wanted to do was spoon Emily.

 

Kelley stood beside Emily and whispered in her ear. “Okay babe, I’m just going to set Mallory up so she can get some sleep. She needs food and painkillers, but then I will be right back here with you ok?” Emily nodded subtly, not having the energy for much else.

 

Kelley pulled out some warm clothes that were in a dry-sac, ready to help Mal change.

 

“Alright Mal, let’s get your clothes off and get you into these. Then I will get you some food.”

 

“After all this time, your finally caving into your need for some of this.” There was a coughing noise from the back of the cabin, Emily was trying to laugh. Kelley rolled her eyes.

 

“Oh please, like you would be able to handle me?”

 

“Haha, someone has tickets on her self.” There was a soft but clear voice from the back.

 

“It’s true Mal, she is a hand full.” Kelley smirked like a winner, proud of herself.

 

“Shut up and strip. I need to get you warm.” Kelley unbuttoned Mal’s shirt and helped get the shirt off over her arms, moving it up over the injured arm, much like she saw Mal do before with the riding jacket. She had seen Mal near naked many times and she was like a sister to her, so Kelley didn’t even acknowledge that she was standing there in a bra, which she hen also removed. Mal only used one of the sleeves with her hoodie, there was no point making it any harder on herself. Kelley then took off Mal’s riding boots and jeans, before helping her into her sweat pants. Mal chose to sit on the recliner for the moment, stretched out but comfortable-ish. Kelley found a little gas cooker and started to heat up some soup. 

 

While that warmed up, Kelley went over to Emily to get her into some warm clothes. Emily was still shivering but would probably warm up faster once she had some warm food in her belly. She sat Emily back on the bed against the bedhead under the blankets and went back to the soup. 

 

Serving the tomato soup into 3 cups, she set Mal and Emily up with their soup before Kelley got changed herself. She was extremely wet but Kelley needed to make sure the other 2 were taken care of considering their injuries made it so they couldn’t do anything for them selves. Kelley then went and stood by the fireplace while she sipped her soup.

 

The last few things she needed to do before she could get some sleep was medicate the injured and ring Frank. Searching through the field kits she found the appropriate strong pills she could give both of them and gave them both bottled water that she found sealed in the kitchen cupboard. 

 

 

 

“Okay Frank, this cabin is amazing.”

 

“So you made it okay?”

 

“Yeah, I have the other 2 dry and ready for sleep, I just wanted to check in with you first before I went to bed.”

 

“That’s great Kelley. At least we know where to find you now. It’s most likely going to be a few more days until we can get the chopper in the air, you think you can last that long?”

 

“Well obviously I would prefer to get Emily’s ankle operated on as soon as possible but we are warm and dry, there is plenty of fire wood so yeah, we will be fine for the moment.”  

 

“Good, the field kit should have enough medication to get you through a week for both of them. That cabin is regularly maintained by the owners, so it should have everything you need.”

 

“Yeah I found some bottled water, the oil lanterns are full, I’m pretty impressed.” Frank heard Kelley yawn quietly through the phone.

 

“I’ll let you go to sleep Kel. Just keep in mind, that cabin is literally in the middle of no where. Don’t try searching around for anything else. Stay inside and stay safe.”

 

“You don’t have to tell me twice Frank. Goodnight, I’ll check in later.”

 

Kelley stood there looking at her 2 favourite people. She knew that within 24 hours, she had nearly lost them both. Shaking her head of the thought, she moved over to where Emily was laying in bed, bruises and dirt on her face. Kelley gently moved a strand of hair away from the small cuts on her cheek. Her thumb rested against Emily’s cheek bone. This woman had grabbed hold of her heart when she was least expecting it, but Kelley didn’t want to stop any of it…she is in for it all.

 

 

Kelley snuggled in behind Emily, her shivering had stopped, the soup and the blankets were doing the job. She wrapped her arm around her waist and held Emily in tight.

 

“I was so scared Em….” Kelley whispered quietly into Emily’s neck, “I didn’t know if I’d be able to find you.” Emily’s breathing had evened out, she had managed to drift off for the moment, helped by the medication she had just taken. “I thought Frank was going to put me behind bars for the night to stop me from going anywhere. They just don’t know how far I was willing to go.”

 

 

 

2 days later Emily and Mal were being loaded onto the helicopter. It was able to land because the rain had finally stopped its ridiculous down pour. Kelley had played nurse the whole time with Mal not needing as much attention because she was actually able to manage her pain a lot better. It wasn’t like she actually had smashed bones. Kelley had spent a lot of time awake monitoring Emily as there had been a few rough patches with her temperature. 

 

They had managed to bring her body temperature up after being outside for so long, but being outside had also given her a fever.

 

The paramedics started her on a drip, Kelley didn’t let go of her hand for the entire flight.

 

 

 

“The X-rays of her chest have comeback showing that she has pneumonia. We are hitting her with a massive hit of antibiotics right now and we have scheduled her ankle surgery for tomorrow morning.” Kelley rubbed her eyes with her knuckles, almost like she was trying to push them out of her head. “An extra 12 hours before surgery will do good for her body in some ways, allowing the antibiotics to kick in, but it just means another day that her ankle isn’t operated on.”

 

“Do what ever you need to Doctor.” Kelley shrugged her shoulders watching the Doctor walk away.

 

“Kelley..” Sydney came around the corner, her arms out ready to  wrap Kelley up in a hug, “How are you holding up?”  Kelley didn’t know how to answer. She could lie, by saying she is doing fine, but honestly, she was exhausted. 

 

So she cried.

 

Sydney let Kelley cry on her shoulder for a few minutes until she started to calm down. 

 

“I’m sorry…I’m just so tired. I don’t mean to fall apart on you.”

 

“Don’t be silly Kel..what you and Mal did was absolutely crazy. Jessie is totally going to kick Mal’s  ass.” Kelley giggled at that, letting Sydney lead her over to some chairs to sit on. “So tell me..what is happening right now?”

 

“Well, they are pumping her with antibiotics right now and they will operate in the morning on her ankle.” Kelley started rubbing her cheeks and running her hands through her hair. “She caught Pneumonia from being in the cold as long as she was.”

 

“Dammit, this girl can’t catch a break huh?” Someone walked down the hallway towards the 2 talking.

 

“Kelley, we’ve got her settled back in now if you want to go in?” The nurses were finished with Emily and they knew how keen Kelley was to get back to her.

 

“Thanks Sofia.” Kelley looked back at Sydney with a crooked smile, “I’m gonna go in Syd, I need to check on her.” Kelley stood up and started walking backwards towards the room.

 

“Of course..I’m gonna go see how Mal is doing, see if Jess has killed her yet. Say hello to your future wife for me.” Kelley stopped walking and looked at Sydney, a big smile on her face. She turned to walk into the room with Emily, not denying it at all.

 

Kelley stood in the doorway, watching Emily lay in the hospital bed, her eyes were shut and she was breathing calmly. Kelley couldn’t believe how much had changed for her since meeting Emily. She knew it was all pretty fast but the way Emily made her feel is not something that you let get away. 

 

Kelley got lost in her thoughts for a minute until she heard Emily speaking to her gently.

 

“Kelley..you could have gotten killed..what you did was crazy.”

Kelley was gently shaking her head, “I would do it again in a heart beat Em.”

 

“But you could…” Kelley cut her off before Emily could continue.

 

“Emily…..you’re my everything…I would go to the end of the earth to find you…tomorrow and the next day after that.  You..you have no idea what I would do, how far I would go.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well folks...I hope you enjoyed this one, and I really do appreciate each and everyone of you taking a moment out of your lives to read my story. Hopefully this is not the end and I see you again soon.


	15. always

“Babe, what are you doing?”

 

“I’m trying to put my boots on.”

 

“I can see that…but Kel….why are you putting your boots on?”

 

“Well, Babe, you need help with the trailer and it's been catching lately so I’m going to come and help.” Kelley was almost done with her second boot when Emily got to her, pulling it from her grasp, although her vice grip was making it extremely difficult.

 

“Kel, you don’t need to come help. Jessie will be here in about 5 minutes to do exactly what you said, you know, it’s still her job and all.” Kelley looked like she was about to start crying..or throwing things, Emily hadn’t quite worked it out and she didn’t know what angle to approach from. “Babe, I get that your frustrated but bed rest means just that. The Doctor said bed rest, your blood pressure was too high.”

 

Emily leant over and pulled the boot off Kelley’s foot and began to pull her up by the hand. She rubbed the pad of her thumb over Kelley’s high cheek bone, slowly dragging her hand down over shoulder, over her arm and the to rest on her belly.

 

“You my love, need to go and lay down.” Kelley rolled her eyes and let out a huff. “Kel..bed. I’m not kidding. The Doctor said your blood pressure is too high…now you can either spend the next 4 weeks here with me, in our home..or you can spend it in hospital while we wait for our son to grace us with his presence.” Kelley turned around dramatically, dragging her swollen ankles with her.

 

“I can’t believe you would do this to me.” Kelley was mumbling down the hallway, obviously frustrated by her predicament. “You did this to me.” Emily’s head sprung up in disbelief.

 

“What…are you kidding me.” Emily followed Kelley down the hallway of the home they now share.Kelley’s house became Kel and Em’s house. Once Kelley had proposed, she started on the renovations. Another level was built onto the house, adding another 2 bedrooms and an extra living space. It was easier to stay at Emily’s house until the renovations were finished on the house, as well as the extension to the current stables, which would be the new vet clinic. Kelley thought of everything to make sure that Emily wouldn’t have to adjust her life so they could be together.

 

“If I remember correctly Kelley, this was a very calculated event and it in no way should leave you surprised. I mean…hell, we sure did practice getting you pregnant but as magical as you think my fingers are, they didn’t do this to you.”

 

Kelley was crawling into bed, her belly making it hard for her to get comfortable on the mattress.

 

“Are you arguing with your pregnant wife?”

 

“No.’ Kelley looked at Emily who stopped in her tracks at the doorway. “No, I’m not arguing at all..because there is nothing to argue over. Bed rest. I’m not going to let your stubborn ass put the love of my life in danger.” Kelley’s watery eyes looked over at Emily. “I have to look after you babe. I can’t lose you. Or our baby. We are so close to meeting him, you just need to be patient a little longer.” Emily sat down beside Kelley on the bed, moving a lose strand of Kelley’s hair to behind her ear.

 

Emily took a deep breath and stretched out her legs. “How is it?” Kelley ran her fingers down Emily’s arm gently.

 

“Yeah it hurts a fair bit today. There must be storm coming. It’s like our own little barometer.” Since the 2 operations after the helicopter accident, Emily’s ankle tends to ache when the weather changes.It’s also generally weaker than the other one, but she knew how lucky she was to walk away in the condition she was so she somehow never let it get to her.

 

A truck pulled up outside the house which had Cyrus barking. Emily leaned in to give Kelley a kiss.

“Please Kelley, stay in bed. Promise me you will?” Kelley let out a loud huff, crossed her arms over her chest, which really caused them to just sit on top of her belly.

 

“Fine..but you owe me.” Emily shook her head in disbelief.

 

“Okay gorgeous. I owe you..for sure. Anything you want.” Emily was still shaking her head as she walked down the hallway. Jessie was standing there patting Cyrus, laughing at the attitude that Emily had to put up with.

 

“You owe me an Orgasm!” That stopped Emily her tracks, frozen in place.

 

“Did you seriously just yell that down the hall way?” Emily was a lot quieter because there was actually no need to yell.

 

“Yes I did..Hi Jessie, don’t let her stay out too long..she has plans.” Emily just stood there confused but laughing. Kelley was still the smart ass she always was but with the pregnancy hormones she was even sassier.

 

“Hey Kel…Don’t worry..I wouldn’t dream of keeping you from getting off. I will ensure she returns before it is too late.” Emily smacked Jessie on the arm.

 

“Geez, don’t encourage her.”

 

“What man, you get to have sex later…how is any of that bad.”

 

“Oh don’t get me wrong..none of it is bad, but I don’t need her to know she won.”

 

 

 

 

Jessie and Emily finished hooking up the horse trailer, getting ready for the check ups they had the next day.

 

“So Jess, how does it feel knowing you only have 1 year to go?”

 

“Sooo good. I can’t wait to not have to do assignments any more.”

 

“Yeah, but I bet you never thought that 4 years ago you were going to be a vet? Shoving your hand up cows butts and stuff.”

 

“Well yeah, when you put it like that, why did I ever wait so long?”

 

“You’re hands were busy somewhere else.” Jessie cracked up laughing.

 

“What do you mean were?? Did you even realize I was 30 minutes late?” Emily just rolled her eyes. Mallory had completely corrupted the girl standing in front of her.

 

 

 

Two weeks later Kelley, Emily, Jessie and Mallory were sitting around the dinner table, enjoying a heated game of scrabble. The girls had continued their game nights through the years, the competitiveness as strong as ever.

 

“That’s not a word Kelley.”

 

“Yes it is.”

 

“That’s not a word Kelley.” Mal would still give Kelley as much crap as possible, even throughout the entire pregnancy. For them, their time out looking for Emily had solidified their friendship eternally. Mallory was like a sister to Kelley and vice versa, nothing would ever get in between them, thankfully no one ever tried. People had heard throughout their home town, just what these women did to find Emily, they were now living legends.

 

When Emily moved in with Kelley, Mallory did a clean swap into Emily’s old house to live with Jessie. Jessie never attempted to have contact with her family again, the three women in front of her, completing her family instead.

 

“So have you finally set a date?” Emily was trying to distract Kelley from the letters on the board that were in fact, not a word.Mallory threw her head back, squeezing her eyes shut, Jessie rolled her eyes at her dramatics.

 

“We have actually. This one over here couldn’t make up her mind purely out of wanting to be difficult so I put the three proposed dates on paper and drew the winner from a hat.”

 

“So…what date was pulled out?” Kelley was looking at Jessie frustrated, like she should have known just to tell them the date already.

 

“Don’t mind her attitude Jess. She has been in a right mood all day.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Kelley was honestly sorry for the way she was speaking. Her moods were so up and down she was driving herself crazy. “I have been feeling so uncomfortable all day, more so than usual.”

 

Jessie looked at Emily, silently asking a question. Emily shrugged, “Maybe.” Mallory looked at Jessie adoringly, she was the same Jessie from all those years back, but different in so many ways. The fact that she had grown so close to Emily made her happy, knowing that Jessie had allowed herself to trust other people so much that they had basically become her family.

 

“We decided on this Fall. So it’s really not that far away, like 5 months.” Mallory had proposed to Jessie one night, two winters ago, but being so young, they decided to be mature and wait a little before actually getting married. Ultimately they knew they wanted to be together and technically were anyway, it was just the piece of paper to finalize it all. Mallory had continued being Miss fix it around town with Kelley while also earning a spot on the Search and Rescue team. Jessie continued to work with Emily while she studied in Veterinary College, which made her grades so much stronger because of all the practical work she was already doing.

 

“Kel..are you okay?” Emily noticed Kelley was looking a little pale and zoned out. Kelley looked liked she was about to vomit, her hands shaking a little. Emily got out of her chair and knelt down beside Kelley’s chair, the back of her fingers stroking Kelley’s cheek.

 

“Arg.” Kelley gripped the table top tightly, her knuckles going white.

 

“Baby, talk to me. What are you feeling?”

 

“It hurts..so m..arrgh.” She didn’t get to finish that sentence, the pain causing her to shout.

 

Emily and Jessie both shot up, one on either side, lifting Kelley out of the chair to move to the sofa. Mallory was stuck in her chair, also looking pale.

 

“Okay baby, we are just going to lay you down on the sofa here, we’ll put these pillows behind your back here to sit you up while we time your contractions.” Kelley started screaming again, shouting out the pain. Jessie began timing the contraction, Emily sat holding Kelley’s hand, Mallory still stuck at the table frozen in her chair.

 

“It just won’t stop,” Kelley cried out. “I thought these things were supposed to have breaks in between for snacks.”

 

“Em, they are going for too long already, we shouldn’t be anywhere close to this already. You need to look.”Emily nodded, realizing that Jessie was right.

 

“Okay Kel, I just need to put your legs up like this,” Emily placed them up so her heals were almost touching her butt. “and I’m just going to have a little look, okay?” Emily gently touched Kelley’s cheek, tying to ground her a little bit.Kelley managed to nod in between her yelling and crying.

Emily pulled Kelley’s underwear to the side, having easy access with Kelley wearing maternity dresses lately.

 

Emily took a deep breath before looking back over at Jessie. “We don’t have time.” Jessie instantly knew what she needed to do. She walked over and pushed the coffee table out of the way.

 

“Mal.” Mal was still frozen. “Mallory Pugh. Snap out of it.” Mal snapped her head over like she had just pulled it out of a thick cloud.

 

“Huh.”

 

“Mal, I need you to go and get some towels, a blanket, a bowel of water, and the scissors out of Emily’s kit by the door.” Jessie knew they would at least be sterile. Finally Mal jumped out of her chair and ran down the hallway to the linen cupboard. Emily helped Kelley off the sofa and Jessie helped to get her onto the ground.

 

“Okay Kelley, I need you to breathe for me okay?” Emily tried to using as much of a calming voice as possible, even though she was shitting herself on the inside.

 

“What’s happening Em?” Kelley voice was shaky, they could hear she was absolutely terrified.

 

“Our little man has decided that his arrival is imminent and he isn’t giving us time to get you to the hospital.” Kelley let out a tiny squeal. “It’s okay though, I’m going to deliver him and Jess is going to help me okay?”

 

Kelley looked up startled, but the only thing she said was, “Jessie’s not suppose to see my vajayjay.” Jessie burst out laughing.

 

“Sorry to tell you Kelley, I have actually lost track of the times I have seen you completely naked.” Emily had a bit of a chuckle. “Remember that time I walked in on you and Emily on the sofa, your leg up over the top. Believe me, I’ve already seen plenty.”

 

Kelley actually had the sanity to blush for the smallest of seconds. “Eh, I knew I taught Mal something.” At that moment Mal rushed back into the room trying not to spill the water.

 

“What did you teach me Kel?”

 

“How to use the sofa appropriately.” Mal didn’t say anything, she just chuckled.

 

“Alright Mal, can you please sit beside Kelley and hold her hand. This isn’t going to take long.” Mal sat down and gave Kelley a kiss on the forehead. None of them had the time to process what was happening, but this was just another thing for them to share for the rest of their lives.

 

Emily positioned herself properly in front of Kelley, Jessie just behind her, scissors close by. The towels were placed on the floor and then Emily took a deep breath to calm herself, she felt a small squeeze on her shoulder from Jessie.

Emily placed pressure on Kelley to try and help to stop any tearing until she could see how easily the head would crown.

 

“Now, give me a big push Kel.” Kelley starting pushing, screaming with the continued pain and also the pressure she was feeling. “That’s good babe, now another big one, take breath and push.”

 

Kelley took a few small breaths, Mal holding onto her hand with both of hers. Another big breath and she pushed again. Jessie made the smallest of noises, acknowledging she could see something. She glanced up at Mallory and saw that she was watching her, face full of wonderment and shock.

 

“Okay, Kel, I can see a little bit of hair, I need a really big push this time.” Kelley screamed and pushed the hardest she could. Emily put a little more pressure down the bottom so when the head came out it would help to hold off any tears. “C’mon baby, keep pushing, his head is nearly out.” Suddenly, Emily was holding the head of her child. “That’s amazing Kel, one last push.”

 

“I can’t..I’m so tired Em.” Emily looked at her wife, the love radiating off her.

 

“Baby, you’ve almost done it. Just one last push. I’ll help as much as I can.” Jessie leant down with the blanket ready, knowing that after the last push, the little boy would be needing to get wrapped up in the blanket.

 

With one last push, and a very loud grunt, Emily helped guide her son the rest of the way. There was no sound but Emily knew what she needed to do. They didn’t have any liquid suckers to help clear the airway as you would in a hospital but within another 5 seconds, there was a beautiful little cry coming from the gorgeous boy with brown hair laying in Emily’s arms. Kelley let out a sob and rolled her head towards Mal for a hug. Mal placed lots of little kisses all over her forehead while Emily and Jessie went to work with tying off and cutting the umbilical chord. The boy was wrapped up in the soft blanket and Emily took a moment, realizing she was holding her son in her arms.

 

Mallory stood up and walked over to hold Jessie, leaving room for Emily to sit beside Kelley with their new born.

 

“Kel, you did it. Look at our beautiful boy.” Kelley let the silent tears fall while she reached out to hold her son. Emily gently placed their son on Kelley’s chest, kissing Kelley softly on the lips for a few seconds, needing to be close to her wife.

 

“He’s so beautiful.” Kelley whispered.

 

“Congrats guys..that was truly amazing.” Jessie was standing there holding Mallory who still seemed a little in shock, but had her head resting on Jessie’s shoulder, breathing in her scent to calm her.

 

“Thanks for being here. I don’t think I could have done that alone.” Emily was sitting beside Kelley rubbing her arm gently while staring at their son.

 

“Of course you could have. Nothing would have stopped you from doing that, even if you were in the hospital.” Mal spoke, seemly coming out of her shock.

 

“You haven’t told us what you were planning on naming him. Do you know?” Kelley nodded, kissing his forehead gently.

 

“Meet Toby Alexander O’Hara.”


End file.
